Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown plans to eliminate 12 positions from the Isla Vista Foot Patrol if funding isn’t restored, he told the Board of Supervisors at the Wednesday budget workshop.
The second day of budget workshops covered public safety departments and the proposed cuts to the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office and Public Defender’s Office as the county faces major deficits.
The Sheriff’s Office proposed a budget of $223.9 million with $5 million in cuts for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Brown asked the board to restore $1.4 million to continue funding its services.
Brown said reductions to the department’s budget would lead to “significant service level reductions.”
He said the result of cuts would be less patrolling in the unincorporated areas of the county, delayed response times, a possible increase in crime rates, and delays in administrative requests and activities.
The office also shared that salaries have decreased by $2.8 million since the last fiscal year.
One of the office’s actions to reduce its positions for the Isla Vista Foot Patrol would include eliminating a total of 12 full-time positions. Undersheriff Brad Welch said the reason the office chose to cut those positions is that it is the only area that has a sheriff’s station within 10 miles.
The office also asked for the restoration of funds for the patrol. Welch said that without the funding, the 12 full-time employees would be reassigned to different areas.
“With the elimination of these personnel, it’s going to increase the wait time for our citizens due to delays as we’re going to handle this area as a beat,” Welch said.
He explained that means one deputy would patrol Isla Vista for the entirety of their shift.
Welch said the Sheriff’s Office is working to reduce the use of over-budget overtime — which accounts for millions of dollars every year.
He said the office managed to reduce the amount of overtime hours by about 6,000 hours compared with the same point in the last fiscal year. Huge overtime costs have been an ongoing issue for the Sheriff’s Office, which has had to rely on the board to fill the deficit caused by overtime pay.
“We’re trying to really continue to ratchet that down and only use it when operationally necessary,” Welch said.
The Sheriff’s Office spent $20 million on overtime last year.
The county is now auditing the department’s overtime use and requiring regular reports.
During public comment, Jaycee Hunter, treasurer of the Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, asked the board not to cut funding for the Foot Patrol. Hunter told the board he was previously assigned to the area and reducing patrols put students at risk.
“We have one county car that’s for the whole 270 square miles outside of the city of Goleta. One county car. If you eliminate IV, there are no deputies driving around IV,” Hunter told the board. “The one county car in Goleta is going to be responsible to go to IV.”
Laura Robinson, executive director of SEIU Local 620, petitioned the board to support workers from the union. She said layoffs in the Sheriff’s Office would largely affect union workers.
“The proposed budget before you includes layoffs in the sheriff’s department that fall almost entirely on Local 620’s members — the lowest-paid employees in the department,” Robinson said. “Even though they are not the ones driving the unfunded overtime costs that are straining the general fund.”
District Attorney’s Office
The District Attorney’s Office proposed an annual budget of $37.1 million, which is a decrease of $800,000 from last year.
District Attorney John Savrnoch also highlighted the continuing complexity and severity of felony cases, including a historically high level of open cases.
Open felony caseloads have increased by 62% since 2019. Open murder and attempted murder cases have increased by 68%, child sexual assault cases have increased by 19% and open DUI cases have increased by 60%.
He said the increase in caseloads is due to changes to state laws, reductions in funding, and the increase in digital evidence that prosecutors must review. The amount of electronic evidence has increased by 3,600% since 2021, according to the presentation.
Public Defender’s Office
The Public Defender’s Office proposes an annual budget of $26 million, a decrease of $760,000 from last year.
Tracy Macuga, who leads the Public Defender’s Office, said her office does not expect any reductions to service despite the decrease in funding, but warned the board that pressure is mounting on her office.
“This year, this infrastructure is under assault,” Macuga said. “The daunting budget situation, the cuts to the safety net — together, they are a perfect storm threatening all the progress this county has worked so hard to build.”
It’s Macuga’s last budget workshop before she leaves the role. She was appointed to the position in 2016.
Macuga warned the board that, despite a smaller budget, the workload for her staff would not decrease.
She explained that the loss in resources means the department must make hard choices between hiring a needed attorney or making a deserved promotion, or whether to pursue training, keep a position vacant to reduce costs, or plan for the future.
“Innovation does not survive scarcity. It is the first thing that disappears,” Macuga said.
Lea Villegas from the Public Defender’s Office also announced that the department is planning to expand its READY (Re-entry, Early Access, and Diversion for You) program.
“That program has been piloted in North County with good results, and we’re going to be expanding it into South County very soon,” Villegas said.
The program works with people who are interviewed upon arrest to identify who is a good candidate for release before their trial. The program also offers job skills training and other services.
Budget workshops are scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. Friday at the County Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.
The budget workshop materials are available online here.
The schedule for the workshops, including breakdown by department, is available here.
