For the second year in a row, a major report has come out detailing the extent to which the Sheriff Department’s reliance on overtime pay is not only skyrocketing, but increasing far in excess of what the sheriff’s own projections are. Last year, it was a quasi-audit released by the County’s Auditor controller. This year, it’s a new grand jury report. The report starts off with an official expression of bureaucratic incredulity that the sheriff started the year already projected to spend $9 million more on overtime than the $10 million that was initially projected. Translated into plain English, that’s $19 million in overtime cost.
The grand jury expressed mystification at these numbers, noting that, as the sheriff’s overtime and general fund allocations have increased dramatically, the number of jail bookings has dropped over time, as has the number of miles driven by deputies’ vehicles. Likewise, the jail population has dropped — from 1,010 in 2013 to 750 last year.
Grand juries are made up of civic-minded citizens looking for problems they believe need fixing. With the county supervisors looking at a menu of excruciating budget cuts they need to make next week — millions of dollars and hundreds of employees — the grand jury report brings to the surface many of the budgetary and political tensions that have been roiling between the sheriff and the county supervisors for some time now. Currently, the Sheriff’s Office consumes 33 percent of the county’s general fund; two years ago, it was 24 percent. That $9 million in unanticipated overtime, the grand jury noted, will have to come out of other departments, already feeling the pinch, that also rely upon the general fund.
Last year’s grand jury exposed the extent to which deputies and correctional officers learned how to qualify for overtime by substituting sick leave and vacation hours they had accrued as actual work hours. There is nothing illegal in this, and it is allowed for under the contract the county signed with the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association. That contract expires this summer, and the grand jury is calling for the county negotiators to plug these loopholes.
Between 2019 and 2025, the number of sheriff’s employees claiming overtime hours increased from 609 to 667, but the number of overtime hours claimed jumped from 180,486 to 298,740. During that same time, the average number of overtime hours claimed increased from 296 to 448.
Two years ago, the grand jury reported, one specific custody deputy managed to accrue $130,000 by working 2,298 overtime hours, and that was on top of his base salary of $287,000. Translated, the jury concluded, this employee must have been working 84 hours a week. This, the jury stated, poses immediate dangers to inmates and employees alike.
“Overworked officers face serious impairment often equivalent to alcohol intoxication,” the grand jury stated.
While this case was admittedly an outlier, it was hardly isolated. The number of employees clocking in more than 1,000 hours of overtime a year jumped from 14 in 2019 to 55 last year.
To fix this problem, the grand jury called for imposing strict caps on overtime hours that can be worked. It called on the county to eliminate the contract that allows employees to substitute leave time for work hours and for managers who approve overtime pay to be held far more accountable. The grand jury noted that under the current system, employees can clock overtime hours without having them approved first. That, the jury said, should also be changed.
The biggest and perhaps most controversial suggestion was that the sheriff and the supervisors shut down South County’s Main Jail — entirely. And no later than by December 31, 2026. Jail overtime exploded, the grand jury stated, after the new North County jail opened in 2022. The duplication of administrative positions triggered by the operational needs of running two jails, the grand jury stated, is very expensive and has contributed to the need for overtime. The grand jury acknowledged Santa Barbara’s notoriously high cost of housing has created severe challenges in keeping the Sheriff’s Office and the jail fully staffed. But the jury states the Sheriff’s Office is now fully staffed, a finding that will be disputed by Sheriff Bill Brown when he replies. Brown has up to 60 days in which to issue a written response.
The grand jury did single out for praise new undersheriff Brad Welch and the new chief deputies for all the custody and law enforcement divisions. This new executive team, appointed by Sheriff Brown, conveys “a clear understanding of the need for efficiency and budgetary controls,” the grand jury found. “The grand jury recommends that the Sheriff give this new leadership the necessary support to bring the overtime budget issues under control.”
