Long-range plans to reboot the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office’s payroll system and decommission the South County jail aligned with recommendations from a recent grand jury report.
During its Aug. 25 meeting, the county Board of Supervisors discussed the report titled: “What’s up with overtime in the Sheriff’s Office?”
“The sheriff’s overtime excesses have been an issue for many years, but they have been particularly widely publicized and a focus of the Board of Supervisors this year,” the report stated. “It has contributed to multi-million-dollar budget deficits for the county.”
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann concurred at the board meeting.
“We talk about overtime it seems like almost every hearing,” Hartmann said. “All of us have borne some responsibility for the overtime issues that we face, and part of it is a structural issue with the timecards.”
As part of approving staff’s recommended responses to the grand jury report, the Board of Supervisors agreed with the jury that the Sheriff’s Office’s current payroll system is “ineffective” at tracking timecard activity and other overtime use data, and it’s in need of replacement.
“It does not allow the Sheriff’s Office to effectively track, analyze, or report regular hours and overtime for a dynamic and mobile workforce,” the grand jury report stated.
Nicole Parmelee, county CEO office principal analyst, summarized the board’s response to this finding as working toward the installation of Workday, a countywide payroll and human resources management system that staff is aiming to implement by the spring of 2028.
“The county is currently preparing a request for proposals (RFP) from Workday-certified companies for the implementation portion of the project,” Parmelee told the board. “While that’s currently underway, it is not feasible to expedite completion within the timeframe recommended by the grand jury.”
The jury’s request was for the county to implement a new payroll system by January 2027.
When Hartmann asked county staff for “a brief description” of how Workday will improve the county’s payroll routines, county Auditor-Controller Betsy Schaffer said “just a lot of different ways of inputting data into the system, and better overall accessibility.”
“I just think people, the grand jury members, may be watching,” Hartmann said. “They’d be curious where we are headed.”
“We’re still working on exactly how the system is going to be put together and the benefits of the system,” Schaffer said. “We do hope that there is better reporting.”
With the goal of encouraging the county to reduce overtime hours for sheriff’s deputies by closing the South County jail “as soon as possible,” the grand jury report also recommended that the board and Sheriff’s Office collaborate on a decommissioning plan.
Parmelee confirmed with the board that staff plans to bring back a South County jail decommissioning plan for supervisors to consider sometime in December.
“County stakeholders are currently creating a transition plan for consolidation of jail operations to include decommissioning the South County jail,” Parmelee said, adding that the item should return before the jury’s requested deadline of Dec. 31.
This article appears in September 3 – September 10, 2026.
