This fiscal year has brought another round of tough choices for Santa Barbara County officials in light of a severe $72 million budget shortfall. The story has become a familiar one, but this year could be one of the worst in terms of public safety and legal services.
If all plays out as proposed in the newly released preliminary budget, the 2011-12 fiscal year might be the hardest yet for local and county law enforcement personnel, as well as services for non-violent offenders who make their way through the court system.
According to the draft budget, the Sheriff’s Department is looking at a more than $8 million reduction for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Among some of the most significant questions before Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is the future of the Santa Maria jailhouse. Located off Foster Road in Orcutt, the North County facility faced a similar fate last year, only to be spared by one-time funding secured by the county at the last minute. Whether or not the jail survives another year—as well as other significant cuts to the department—won’t be finalized until the Board of Supervisors votes on a final budget on the week of June 13.
“Nothing’s set in stone yet,” said Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Drew Sugars. “Of course, it’s not our desire to [close the jail], but faced with this playing field we have to weigh where it makes sense to save money—we still have to keep public safety our highest priority. And this one of the options.”
Though the draft budget says closing the rural, roughly 20-bed facility will save the county approximately $1.2 million, local police departments in Santa Maria and Guadalupe will have to pony up extra time and money to transport individuals in custody to the Goleta jail about 70 miles away.
“What we’d like to get across is it’s more than just convenience,” said Santa Maria Police Department Lt. Jerel Haley, whose department books well over half of the jail’s roughly 4,000 annual inmates. “It would be an increase on everything. It’s about a two-hour trip—so it’s taking officers off the street—and of course, costs for our department, as I’m sure overtime costs are going to come into play.”
The North County jail in previous years has been the focus of a possible expansion. Even though the county has $56.3 million in grant money to pay for a new facility, finding reliable funds to continuously pay for its operation is another story. Measure S, a half-percent sales tax that would have done just that, was rejected by voters in November 2010. Sugars said even in light of this year’s possible closure, the project is still alive thanks to the grant money.
The recommended cuts for the Sheriff’s Department come as overall operating expenditures are expected to grow in 2011-12 by 2 percent, or to $108.2 million—the result of increases in retirement costs, and higher salaries due to negotiated pay raises. However, the department has been able to reduce that operating budget by lowering staff overtime and additional supplies and maintenance expenses.
Other changes currently set to hit the Sheriff’s Department, for example, include the complete elimination of the office’s Gang Enforcement Team, reducing three investigator and one sergeant position from the office’s Narcotics Bureau, eliminating one of two detective positions from the High-Tech Crime Unit, slashing six detective positions from the Criminal Investigations Unit—nearly half of its investigators—and the total elimination of the D.A.R.E. program.
The Sheriff’s Department currently staffs approximately 704 positions and serves an area of roughly 2,744 square miles.
Public defender cuts and the elimination of two social services staff positions will affect the availability of treatment programs for offenders, which will also affect jail overcrowding.
Similar services run by the District Attorney’s Office won’t go unscathed, either. The office is set to eliminate two attorneys from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment courts, which monitor non-violent drug offenders through treatment programs, instead of incarceration.Sentences for other non-violent offenders could also be much harsher, should the Probation Department be forced to eliminate the Community Service Work program, which currently provides 83,000 hours of work—estimated at a $830,000 value—to roughly 2,000 adult and juvenile offenders every year in lieu of jail time.
This article appears in May 19-26, 2011.