The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Monday began its final review of a roughly $1 billion budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The budget, said County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato, is “largely a status quo budget” that reflects the improving financial situation the county has found itself in over the last few years.
The budget hearing continues Wednesday at the County Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu St., when the supervisors hope to adopt the spending plan.
The hearings may continue to Friday, however, if the supervisors’ deliberations run long.
In all, the budget, the theme of which is “Challenges, Changes, and Choices Ahead,” envisions just over $1 billion in operating expenses — up 3 percent from last year — and $10.4 million more than that in operating revenue which is a 4.8-percent increase over last year’s revenues.
The county also projects 4,350 full-time employees for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
So soon after the leaner years of the recession, Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf said, the county has bounced back well.
“This board, this staff, and everyone has really pulled together” to get the county to where it is now fiscally, she said.
In April, the supervisors held a round of budget workshops in which the county’s departments presented their requests for new one-time and ongoing funds for proposed operations, which totaled $11.8 million and $17.3 million, respectively.
Although it’s a “status quo budget,” several of the theme’s “challenges” and “changes” required attention from the county.
A decrease in gas tax revenues and state funds for roads have helped draw greater attention to the county’s infrastructure, which has already suffered from extensive deferred maintenance, and is slated to receive an extra $2.5 million more in allocated funding in the coming year.
As recession-era cuts are eliminated and infrastructure needs have mounted, the county has identified more and more capital improvement projects that it now has the financial means to pursue.
Budget Director Tom Alvarez outlined the most important capital projects the county has on its plate, including the proposed 376-bed Northern Branch County Jail near Santa Maria, the rebuilding of Cuyama Fire Station 21, more affordable overnight accommodations at Jalama Beach, and the replacement of the Goleta Beach Bridge, the sole access points for vehicles headed to that stretch of coast.
The county has also witnessed an increased demand for in-patient mental health services as well as the number of instances of violent crime in North County, which have highlighted the needs of health and human services departments and the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office.
For the case of the MS-13 gang members arrested in North County in March, said District Attorney Joyce Dudley, “the amount of work and resources required to prosecute it is unprecedented.”
Additionally, the budget calls for setting aside increasing amounts of General Fund money for the Northern Branch Jail operations — the construction bids for which are all at least $11 million higher than expected.
In response to these developments and the projected budget surplus, Miyasato recommended a list of budgetary expansions that total close to $10 million in one-time and ongoing funding — close to the amount of the projected net operating surplus.
The suggested budget expansions include new staffing positions such as a North County deputy district attorney, a human resources recruiter, a deputy probation officer, and a helicopter fire captain.
The expanded funding also covers increasingly pressing issues like clearing dead and dying trees, water reduction measures, and a new case management system for the public defender’s office.
The greatest sources of revenue for next year will come from intergovernmental revenues, at $387 million; taxes, at $292 million; and charges for county services, at $262 million.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.