Cautious Supes Deny Most Expansion Requests

A doom-and-gloom forecast of Santa Barbara County’s fiscal status from staff-echoed by 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone-preceded efforts by the Board of Supervisors during its November 6 meeting to approve what it could from a lengthy list of expansion requests remaining from June’s budget hearings. The supervisors were able to agree on passing four expansion requests totaling $447,021, with all the money coming out of the county’s general fund. Additionally, the board also instructed county staff to find the $650,000 to fund a North County clinic for uninsured mental health patients.

Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Janet Wolf tried a number of combinations to get more expansions pushed through, but-having heard a report from county Assessor Joe Holland on the dropping value of property assessments and a recommendation from County Executive Officer Mike Brown to forestall expansions-the rest of the supervisors were wary about proceeding with any requests. Among the expansions granted, however, were unanimously approved allotments of $83,000 to the District Attorney’s Office and $88,721 to the Probation Department for a new staff position.

In June, the board had deferred until fall nearly $7 million in departmental budget expansions and $1.7 million in community organization funding. Ten requests were withdrawn before the November 6 meeting began, dropping the total departmental budget expansion request amount to $4.1 million and seemingly lightening the load for the supervisors. But with a list of 16 pending issues-among them, paying for the 2008 presidential primary, funding a new county jail, and the reauthorization of Measure D-and rising expenditures teamed with fragile revenue sources, Brown expressed trepidation at moving forward with any of the requests, especially considering the county’s so-so fiscal quarter.