Southern Santa Barbara County’s supervisors like to get a little catty with one another.
The once tight-knit liberal caucus has noticeably frayed since 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps took her space up on the dais—with Capps and 1st District Supervisor Das Williams taking tiny, little jabs at one another during elongated board discussions.
A great example is the cannabis tax issue that the board insists on continuing to discuss. The “death penalty tax” the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors decided to move forward with in June—a 30-day grace period to pay quarterly cannabis taxes or lose your operating license—seemed to strike a nerve with operators! Surprise, surprise.
“I understand we need to get rid of the bad actors, but this is only going to hurt the good apples in the county,” operator Emily Curry told supervisors on July 11.
Why did none of you show up to speak at that June hearing? Public comment was deafeningly silent in the face of such drastic measures.
Well, at least they spoke at the proposed ordinance’s second reading on July 11. As did the county’s treasurer-tax collector, who also didn’t say anything in June.
What’s happening, people? Were you on vacation? Pay attention! It’s not like the meeting agendas are private. You can even get on an email list for them!
The supervisors were feeling generous in July after wanting to drop the hammer on delinquent cannabis taxpayers, deciding to extend the death penalty period by an additional 30 days. But Capps didn’t want any of it.
She was the sole supervisor to cast a no vote on the 60-day grace period to pay cannabis taxes. What’s her beef with cannabis? That’s an excellent question. Maybe it’s the smell? Bad experience in college? Too many bad apples?
“The public wants us to be tougher; I don’t understand this culture of leniency that has existed,” Capps said, lamenting all of the time the treasurer-tax collector has to chase down people who pay their taxes late.
Hmm. Well, it seems like the “public” only wants the board to be “tougher” on cannabis. Is that really fair?
“There’s opportunity costs with the time and effort that has weighted our county staff down,” Capps said, even though Treasurer-Tax Collector Harry Hagan also said it would be nice to have a little more than 30 days to do all of that chasing!
Williams responded to Capps by possibly calling her angsty—a low blow.
“I just don’t appreciate throwing staff under the bus; staff is trying to give us what they think we want, which is a tough ordinance, and this would remain a tough ordinance; it would remain the toughest tax measure in the state,” Williams said.
I’m not sure she was throwing staff under the bus, but she is trying to use staff to make her point. Is it the same? Perhaps it’s just an “angst of the difference”—whatever Williams was trying to say with that statement.
But at least cannabis operators in Santa Barbara County will get a little bit longer to prevent their business licenses from being taken away—a potential that will come four times a year for the duration of their existence.
The canary is relieved not to pays taxes four times a year. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 13-23, 2023.