Budget cuts are hitting Santa Barbara County. One reality is an almost $10 million cut to the Public Health Department that’s closing pharmacies and other services in both North and South counties.
If you need to use the county-run pharmacy, you’ll have to run to Lompoc. It’s the middle ground—so at least it’s not just North County taking the brunt of the adjustments. The city of Santa Barbara is also getting hit, if you need to take solace in something.
Or you could use your local Walgreens, as the county contracts with the corporation to provide those necessary meds.
Closing just two pharmacies will save the county more than $8 million. Two. That’s a lot of dough. Pulling blood drawing service locations will only save half a million.
The changes will impact thousands of residents who depend on those places for their health services. At least 10 people will be losing their jobs as a result—plus a half a person, because it’s actually 10.5 filled positions that are being eliminated with those particular cuts. Can half a person lose their job?
That’s just the starter pack.
As of July 1, a little less than 100 county employees will find themselves unemployed—the majority of whom are in Public Health and Social Services. The county’s $1.78 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year cut approximately $28 million in operating costs compared to the 2025-26 budget.
Belt tightening is what’s needed, and it’s always the public safety net that gets cut up first.
Solvang looked at its belt and decided it needed suspenders, according to City Attorney Chelsea O’Sullivan, who walked the City Council members through their new financial disclosure requirements on June 8.
The new rules double up the disclosing that elected officials in the Danish capital of California will need to do: submit one set of forms to the Fair Political Practices Commission and then submit the same to the city.
“It’s more about affirmatively getting the information in front of the council,” O’Sullivan said. And more frequently.
Every quarter, city staff is going compile a report for the council—all thanks to Mayor David Brown’s Solvang Passport app. If he knew it was going to cause this level of conversation, maybe he wouldn’t have created it!
He, of course, voted against the requirements, calling them redundant.
“I think it’s an overstep, quite honestly,” he said.
Honestly, it does seem like an overstep, but he was apparently alone in his dissent. Even Councilmember Claudia Orona—who’s made sharp comments warning the council about moving in this direction—voted in favor of the new rules. Her Solvang Trolley Ice Cream Parlor is part of Brown’s little Passport app.
She was reticent, saying, “I hope I don’t regret this.”
Orona has repeatedly said that if people have an issue with the financial entanglements of an elected official that they should report it to the Fair Political Practices Commission. On June 8, she added that she could see the reporting requirements getting abused or used to bully disliked colleagues, but ultimately, she said it’s not about elected officials.
“We should act in favor of our constituents, not our colleagues,” Orona said.
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This article appears in June 18 – June 25, 2026.
