The Board of Supervisors on Friday unanimously approved a $1.48 billion Santa Barbara County budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
It’s an $89 million increase in spending from the previous year, and most of the additional money comes from higher property tax revenues and additional state funding.
The Board of Supervisors heard detailed presentations from each county department during the April budget hearings, so Friday’s presentation was more of a summary.
Last year, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson voted against the budget because he wanted more support for North County law enforcement and infrastructure.
On Friday, he voted for the spending plan, and said he was glad to see more funding for homelessness services, an independent Information Technology Department, and flexibility in decisions about the future of the Main Jail renovation.
“The budget staff has done an amazing job,” he said, adding that new budget director Paul Clementi was “crushing it.”
First District Supervisor Das Williams thanked department heads for being thoughtful about additional funding they did and didn’t ask for.
“We want to make our work sustainable year to year, not just start something and then drop the ball on it,” Williams said.
The county is facing a $11.3 million increase in retirement pension costs next year ($178.6 million total), and “in many years that would have meant cuts, but it didn’t,” he said.
He credited departments and a higher-than-usual property tax revenue increase, which isn’t expected to repeat next year.
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino shared similar sentiments, saying he was grateful the county’s leaders and his colleagues are careful about not spending more money than they should.
“Thanks for not going beyond what the County Executive Office and staff has told us is prudent to spend,” Lavagnino said. “Other places do that, and it ends up in chaos.”
The county’s $1.48 billion budget includes a workforce of 4,636.5 full-time employee positions.
The county is still having trouble recruiting and retaining employees, and that was punctuated by a report that departments have 81 funded positions that haven’t been filled since before 2022.
The biggest numbers of those are in Public Health and Behavioral Wellness, followed by the Sheriff’s Office.
There has also been a lot of turnover at the leadership level, mostly from retirements. As Lavagnino noted, this budget cycle is the first (or second) for a lot of department heads.
Several new department heads were appointed or elected in the last year, including Agricultural Commissioner Jose Chang, Public Health Director Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, General Services Director Kirk Lagerquist, Chief Probation Officer Holly Benton (appointed by Superior Court) and District Attorney John Savrnoch (elected by voters).
County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato said four department heads are leaving the county in the next year: George Chapjian, director of the Community Services Department; Maria Elena De Guevara, director of Human Resources; Joni Maiden, director of Child Support Services; and Scott McGolpin, director of Public Works.
McGolpin is the county’s “longest tenured director,” she said.
Sheriff Bill Brown asked to give a presentation on Friday, and told the supervisors they should fund additional sheriff’s deputy positions, including for a narcotics task force. Santa Barbara County has seen 40 suspected fentanyl overdose deaths already this year, he said.
Brown also said the number of deaths is lower than the same time last year, which could be a sign community education and overdose-reversing naloxone (Narcan) distribution is helping.
The supervisors did not approve funding for a five-person fentanyl-focused narcotics enforcement team, which would cost $1.47 million.
Scroll down to view County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato’s budget presentation from Friday’s meeting and Noozhawk reporting on the April budget hearings.
