Laying a Lompoc egg farm’s tax appeal to rest recently divided local officials, who simmered over the issue across two lengthy hearings this summer.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ reception to Dare 2 Dream Farms’ plea to forgive about $65,000 in unpaid taxes was nearly split down the middle before a 3-2 vote in late August erased the debt.
While all five supervisors said they consider the Lompoc-based ag operation an important community asset, three supervisors initially argued that showing the farm special treatment would set a precedent for future appeals.
“I kind of want to talk about precedent because we keep talking about it,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said at the board’s July 7 meeting. “Every appeal to me is different, depending on what the circumstances are, what the evidence is.
“If the next person comes in and says, ‘Well, I don’t want to pay my taxes,’ you better have a freaking story as good as this one, [or] you’re going to pay,” he continued. “That’s just the way it is.”
Lavagnino’s comment followed a presentation from Dare 2 Dream owners Megan and Jeremy Raff, who outlined what 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann described as “quantifiable public benefits” the farm provides.
‘They were caught, I think, in a catch-22 situation.’
—Joan Hartmann, 3rd District Santa Barbara County supervisor
Examples included the venue’s honor-system farm stand and weekly donations to local nonprofits like Veggie Rescue, and its ability to accept SNAP payments for fresh groceries.
“If we could grant relief, it really needs to rest on a finding that a public benefit exists,” Hartmann said. “I think there’s enough that makes this distinct from other cases. … I’m truly worried that if we can’t figure out a way to forgive this, they aren’t going to be able to continue.”
A county audit determined that between April 2022 and March 2025, the Raffs failed to pay the county about $50,000 in transient occupancy tax (TOT), tied to farmstay experiences they offer through short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.
There’s an on-site trailer, an Airstream, and a guest house-style unit on the property patrons can choose when reserving nightly stays. The three-year TOT delay resulted in interest and penalties racking up to an additional $15,000.
If the husband-and-wife duo behind Dare 2 Dream Farms had known that paying TOT under protest during that period—which they described as a regulatory gray area—was an option, they would have paid.
“There were no TOT rules written in place for farmstays,” Jeremy told the Sun on Sept. 9 at Dare 2 Dream’s farm stand. “Farmstays are [very] niche. Some municipalities in the United States don’t even charge TOT toward farmstays.”
Before the county’s Ag Enterprise Ordinance went into effect in early 2025, there wasn’t a clear framework for farmstay hosts to operate under, Megan said in between some of her daily tasks at their farm.
At one point during the ordinance’s multi-year development, she told the Sun while carrying a hen from one end of her chicken coup to another, there were discussions between county leaders about creating a separate ordinance solely dedicated to regulating farmstays and differentiating them from other short-term rentals.
Because the farmstay policy never came to fruition, farmstays fell under the broad definition of hotel use by default, with taxes the Raffs didn’t submit in past years because they weren’t sure how the ag ordinance would ultimately “pan out,” Jeremy said.
“I didn’t think we’d have to pay for the back months that it was in regulatory compliance, and I should have paid those under protest, but I didn’t know the concept,” he said. “I didn’t think that they should be due, personally, because … it wasn’t clear on what the rules were and what the tax was going to be.”
When notified about the results of the county audit and the farm’s $65,000 bill, Jeremy and Megan asked county staff if a quarterly payment plan was possible, which staff confirmed was not an option outside of the bill continually accruing interest.
“They were caught, I think, in a catch-22 situation,” Supervisor Hartmann said at the Board of Supervisors’ Aug. 25 meeting.
She described denying the Raff family’s tax appeal as essentially “putting a small working farm out of business over a compliance gap that, to some extent, we created.”
“I’m usually a real hard-liner,” Hartmann said, “and ignorance of the law is no excuse, but we’re dealing with people who … this isn’t their main line of business.”
During the board’s deliberations, supervisors Bob Nelson and Roy Lee spoke plainly about their intention to vote against any motion that would erase the farm’s bill. While 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps initially indicated she’d lean in that direction, she joined Hartmann and Lavagnino in casting votes to forgive the debt in full.
Capps told the Sun her decision was mostly based on simply deferring to Hartmann’s stance.
“Supervisor Hartmann represents the area, and she knows firsthand the community benefit that farm provides,” Capps said. “I had some doubts about it from a policy perspective.
“She was so passionate in her advocacy for this forgiveness,” she continued, “I [wanted] to acknowledge her advocacy … and defer to her judgement.”
While Dare 2 Dream Farms’ farmstay offerings grant the Raffs supplemental income to support their ag operations, especially during tough winters, the family’s primary business entails working with direct descendants of dinosaurs.
“Most of our customers are interested in purchasing chickens for egg laying,” Megan told the Sun. “And they’re absolutely awesome as companions. … It’s like having a dog-like companion, but also you get breakfast. So, there’s a function to feeding it a 50-pound bag of food of every month.”
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in September 17 – September 24, 2026.
