County Board of Supervisors Budget Workshops April 9 and 10, 2024

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(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will hold budget workshops on April 9 and 10, and, if necessary, on April 12, beginning at 9 a.m. each day in the County Administration Building, Fourth Floor Hearing Room, 105 East Anapamu Street. The theme for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget is Prudence and Progress which acknowledges that careful fiscal planning in prior years and continued restraint in developing the FY 2024-25 budget will enable the County to not only maintain its core operations, but continue to advance local programs, projects, and other organizational goals.

The public is encouraged to follow the proceedings via the County’s website, YouTube, and cable TV channel 20. To watch in Spanish, Cox and Comcast subscribers can enable SAP in their language settings, or watch in Spanish via the County’s YouTube en Español. Remote testimony and public comment will also be available at the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Government Administration Building at 511 East Lakeside Parkway, Santa Maria, and virtually via Zoom by following the instructions found in the agenda.

“Next year’s budget is largely status quo, as the County continues to be judicious in our budgeting but forward-looking,” said County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato. “We are striving to maintain services that residents count on, and fulfill our highest priorities and commitments, while proactively planning for, and addressing, likely constrained fiscal conditions in the coming years.”

The County’s preliminary operating budget is estimated at $1.59 billion, a 6.7% increase compared to the FY 2023-24 adopted operating budget. With a projected slowing of General Fund revenue growth, compared to prior years, the staff are recommending the release of ongoing discretionary reserves set aside in prior years to avoid reductions of mandated and essential services. This would be the sixth consecutive year without any service level reductions.

“The County’s past fiscal prudence – setting aside ongoing General Fund revenue – has allowed budget gaps to be filled next year without a reduction of service, but expansions of service are not recommended next year absent new revenue or reductions elsewhere,” said Budget Director Paul Clementi. “Several years of Board decisions to set aside ongoing funding in anticipation of economic uncertainty have prepared the County to address coming fiscal challenges related to increasing operational costs and General Fund revenue constraints and will allow for continued fiscal stability in the coming year.”

Positive financial factors include

• General Fund Strategic Reserve (or, “rainy day fund”) will be fully funded at $45.6 million
• Sufficient reserves are in place to mitigate slowing revenue growth while still addressing capital and other identified needs
• Increased revenue opportunities will be leveraged through initiatives, such as California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM)
• American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), federal, and state funding continues to fund critical programs, including homelessness projects and housing needs. Challenging financial factors include
  • Slowdown in General Fund Discretionary revenue is projected
  • Employee salary and benefit costs will continue to increase
  • Inflationary costs related to capital projects, insurance rates, litigation and settlement compliance, and jail-related costs continue.

Each department will be giving a presentation outlining its budget during the workshops. The submitted department budgets and revenue estimates are available in the Budget Workshop Material 2024-2025 posted online. This year, the workshops include a special issue report on Maintenance and Capital Projects. The public is encouraged to watch the workshops and provide input on ideas staff develop to fund vital services. A full schedule for the budget workshops can be found here: FY 2024-25 Budget Workshop Schedule.

“This will definitely be a challenging budget cycle. In previous years, we have been able to add programs and services based on the public’s input, however, this is a year in which we will be striving to simply maintain our current level of service,” said Board Chair Steve Lavagnino. “We need to hear from our constituents on their priorities as we know we can do anything, just not everything.”

Even though no new programs or expansions from discretionary revenue are being recommended, the preliminary budget includes significant programs, investments and projects that serve the community.

Programmatic highlights of the preliminary FY24-25 budget include:

• Strategic investments in addressing homelessness through interim supportive housing, including through funding allocated to Hope Village in Santa Maria and La Posada in the Goleta Valley, which will provide 174 non-congregate cabin units. $25 million in State and federal funds will be allocated to continue addressing and preventing homelessness in FY 2024-25 by the Community Services Department.
• Funding to support the implementation of several Housing Element Update programs including the completion of a workforce housing study; completion of a local preference housing feasibility study; prioritization of select county-owned sites for housing development; collaboration with employers and developers on the development of workforce and farmworker housing; and identifying financial incentives for the creation of affordable housing.
• Increased State funding for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program which is estimated to increase County cash assistance to recipients by $4.3 million.
• Continued funding for a variety of measures related to the improvement of the criminal justice system, including coordination of reentry services, expansion of pretrial services and holistic defense, and crisis outreach, intervention, and training through Crisis, Recovery, Engagement, Diversion, and Outreach Proposition 47 (CREDO-47).
• Allocations for translation and interpretation services to improve language access, funding for a County Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Coordinator, and support for the development and implementation of departmental DEI plans.
• Expansion of the County’s electric vehicle (EV) program, including completion of $2.4 million in EV infrastructure upgrades and a focus on developing community EV charging infrastructure through the implementation of several grants.
• Strategic updates to Parks facilities, including playground and surfacing replacements at Waller, Lookout, and Tuckers Grove Parks, storm damage repairs to Bodger Trail and Goleta Beach parking lots, and funding and resource leveraging projects for pedestrian access and circulation at Lookout Park, repaving of Arroyo Burro Beach Park.
• Capital improvements including anticipated completion of the Regional Fire Communications Center, RV park renovations at Cachuma Lake and continued progress on the Public Safety Radio Network project.

These highlighted priorities are just some of the investments that will see progress in the FY 2024-25 budget.

County budget workshops are held approximately one month before the release of the recommended budget and two months before budget hearings. This provides the Board of Supervisors an opportunity to review and discuss departments’ preliminary budgets and special issues, receive public input, and provide the County Executive Officer direction on policy issues or specific items for consideration before completion of the Recommended FY 2024-25 Budget to be released in May.

The public is encouraged to attend the workshops and provide input on the funding of vital services. Final budget decisions will be made on June 11 and 13, 2024 when the Board of Supervisors holds budget hearings.