On June 13, after a week filled with lengthy presentations and impassioned pleas from the public, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a final 2008-09 budget, which comes in at around $760 million and features millions of dollars in cuts to county-sponsored programs.
The supervisors deliberated over the county’s available fiscal balance—approximately $4.1 million—for hours on June 9, 11, and 13, to determine which departmental programs would face slashes in funding or even possible elimination. The lack of funding for county programs stems from the state’s estimated $17 billion deficit.
The board voted 3-2, with supervisors Brooks Firestone and Joni Gray dissenting, to allocate a balance of $4.1 million and an additional $2.95 million in reserve funds to a dozen programs.
Citing deficit spending, Firestone and Gray went against their fellow supervisors on several votes, including the restoration of Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services and other public health programs.
Still, the board eventually signed documents approving the final budget, thus authorizing County Executive Officer Mike Brown to begin the steps necessary to dispense county funds.
“We’ve voted for a budget that we cannot sustain. … Our society and our country is developing a dependency on government programs that exceeds our ability to fund those programs,” Firestone later told the Sun.
He said that the deficit could be remedied, both in the county and throughout the state, by making “more judicial” fiscal decisions and supporting enterprise.
Firestone, who is set to retire in January, also said that he didn’t want to leave his successor with a deficit.
“It would be very easy right now to vote yes on everything, but I don’t think that’s responsible,” he said.
However, a recent ruling indicates that the county most likely will not have to pay between $8 and $9 million in damages and other fees to the Santa Maria-based Adam Brothers Farming Co., which frees up about $5.4 million in funds for other spending.
Adams Brothers, whose case against the county began in 1999, has the option to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but county officials think it’s highly unlikely that the court would choose to review it.
For the last several years, the county had been depositing $500,000 to $1 million per year into a litigation reserve fund to pay for damages if the case was reversed.
The board of supervisors had the option of keeping the now $5.4 million in a fund for possible future litigation, but chose to pour it into the county’s economically depressed budget.
That decision was pivotal for county departments facing funding cuts, especially Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services, which received about $5 million to combat a deficit that department officials estimated to be around $8.4 million. Many local mental health supporters, however, estimated the deficit as closer to $5 million.
“I’m very delighted that mental health received the $4.1 million in funding. I think it shows the board’s good measure of faith in the department,” said Transitions Mental Health Association executive director Jill Bolster-White.
“But now the $4.1-million question is, how will those funds be spent?” she said. “I’m afraid that they won’t be used to restore community services. The county hasn’t specified how the money should be used, so we’ll have to wait and see.” Approximately $2.4 million of the funds set to pay for the county’s public health programs originated from tobacco settlement endowment funds.
Along with Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services, a handful of other departments also received funding.
The board approved additional money for the county Public Health Department, including $121,000 for the Geriatric Assessment Program and $50,000 for the HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program.
The Santa Barbara Visitors Conference Bureau and Film Commission received $95,000 from the board, with the hope that it would use the funds to generate revenue for the county’s economy.
Approximately $207,000 was designated to the Agricultural Commission to continue funding the Agricultural Advisory Commission, and pay for the salary of an oak tree specialist to monitor and care for the county’s oak trees.
The board also made cuts to several programs. Supervisor Salud Carbajal was unable to convince his fellow supervisors to allocate $300,000 for the Children’s Health Initiative, which provides insurance to uninsured children.
The county sheriff’s and fire departments received reductions of $2.59 million and $768,185, respectively.
And the probation department received a reduction of $1.7 million, including the closure of the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall, which will be turned into a 10-hour booking facility. Minors will now be held at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall.
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 19-26, 2008.