Board of Supervisors — 2025-06-17

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to our County Board of Supervisors June 17th 2025 hearing as well as our budget hearings for the fiscal year 2025-2026. Madam Clerk can you please call the roll?

Chair Caps and members of the Board, I just have one quick announcement this morning regarding public participation. For the Board of Supervisors methods of public participation to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the board's agenda please see page 2 of the agenda. Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment may do so via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page two. I would like to note for those that intend to address the board, there will be an opportunity for public comment at the conclusion of each functional group presentation. If you are registering to provide verbal public comment through Zoom, please note which functional group you would like to speak on in your online registration.

General public comment for items not on today's agenda will be at the conclusion of today's budget hearings. If you have any questions, please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code 805-568-2240. Again, that number is 805 568-2240. That concludes my announcement for today.

Okay, well thank you. That brings us to the county budget hearings for fiscal year 2025-2026. I have a couple opening comments i'd like to make but I want to give my colleagues an opportunity to do the same. A little bit of housekeeping some who might be tuning in and the public might wonder why we're moving through this so fast sort of speed budget for a 1.6 billion dollar budget it's because two factors I see One is we had quite a robust budget workshops, as we do in April.

And also because there really isn't that much money. We're flat and so that means the choices have been pretty much laid out for us through a lot of good work from our department heads and our CEOs. But beyond that, I just want to state that as we know and we often state up here it is a 1.6 billion dollar budget and you'll see a lot of numbers big binders but it's really more than the spreadsheets and the numbers as we know and we take seriously and I know you all do It's really a reflection of our values and that responsibility that we feel every day to serve the public with integrity and fiscal discipline. But I wanted to note a difference about this year, just with the dramatic downturn of our economy and massive cuts at the federal level and the state.

I really see this budget as an exercise in discipline. and scrutiny, not just today but going forward for this entire fiscal year. And every dollar we allocate I believe carries a duty to spend wisely and transparently and with measurable purpose. You know the way I try to think about it often when questions come to my team is would we make the same decision if it was our money like literally out of our pocket?

And I wouldn't be comfortable spending a dollar from our own pocket for particular purpose. We have to think really carefully if this is the way we should be spending the people's money, taxpayers' money and that mindset is tough. It means we need to focus on spending not for the sake of appearances or checking a box Or because we're in a rush or because we have a deadline, or because we haven't asked the vendor or the contractor the tough questions. It means that we need to really focus on the results and making sure that that spending has clear deliverables. I'm always trying to have discipline on my own thinking to ask the questions before engaging in a project. What's the goal? What are we trying to achieve?

I believe in 2025 with what we are facing, the people we serve deserve more than just good intentions and good programs that are born out of hearts in the right place. Fully support that all five of us and all of you who serve as department heads, and certainly as our CEO. Our hearts are in the right place for this county but this year is tough and we need to make tough choices and we need to make sure that our budget rises to the standards of delivering results. Thank you.

And I will open it up to anyone who might have a comment or we can do so throughout the hearing as well. Supervisor Lee.

Say this is my first budget hearing so be nice everybody, thank you.

They will be okay with that I will turn it over to the County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato. Thank you very much chair did you put the slides

up please? So as you know, we're here for the recommended budget for fiscal year 25-26. And as your chair said that we had robust discussions through workshops in April. Next slide. So this is what we're going to do today. I'm gonna give an overview. Our Budget Director Paul Clementi will talk about what's in the recommended budget and then we'll go over the functional groups. So as you know at the hearings, we don't typically go over department budgets Updates are in your binder and posted online, updates since the workshops but we go over the functional groups at a high level.

And the board is certainly able to ask questions. There were a lot of BIFs that were turned in which are budget inquiry forms. I think there were nine total. after the workshops. We've done our best to answer the BIFs, some answers are not complete and so we may continue to do some work but if you have questions about it you're certainly able to bring those up during the functional group discussions but if there's a lot of discussion or information we request that you ask us to come back at a future meeting for more deliberation Also towards the end of Mr. Clemente's presentation, we will talk about cannabis tax revenue allocation and we have a presentation and so does the sheriff and so we'll be presenting those at the end of his presentation and then your board will deliberate and then take the recommended actions.

I do want to just say that as you've heard us talk about since workshops and all our materials that there are challenges ahead And this year is largely a status quo budget, but it doesn't mean that we are actually standing still. I don't want people to think that and to illustrate that we have a video this morning That highlights some of the good work in progress that's reflected in the recommended budget So Kelsey could you please go ahead and play the video?

The County of Santa Barbara's Fiscal Year 25-26 Recommended Budget totals $1.69 billion. Reflecting on the county's continued commitment to responsible fiscal stewardship while navigating an increasingly uncertain financial landscape, this budget reflects stability amid uncertainty, sustaining progress through prudent planning. Despite a slowdown of state revenues and volatility of proposed federal funding cuts, the county's prudent planning allows for the maintenance of core operations while advancing its priorities.

Let's dive into some of those key programs making a real impact in our community. The County is accelerating efforts to address the housing crisis by implementing several programs with a goal of increasing local housing. These include a Local Preference Program, Workforce and Farmworker Housing Partnerships and Incentives for Affordable Housing Development. To speed up construction and reduce cost, the county is creating pre-approved Accessory Dwelling Unit, ADU plans and expanding online permitting systems.

Over 23 million dollars is dedicated to reducing homelessness. Sites like Hope Village in Santa Maria and La Posada in the Goleta Valley offer 174 cabin units with wraparound services. In their first year of operation, they served more than 350 people who were previously unsheltered. The county has made great work in addressing encampments along waterways And this will continue in the next fiscal year, improving environmental conditions and supporting better outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.

The county continues to provide $604 million in safety net services to all residents. To help meet the need of inpatient mental health care, the county is investing $16.6 million dollars in mental health treatment beds. Plus farm workers their families and employers will be supported with direct in-person access to services and programs through the county's mobile farm worker resource center. The county is approving criminal justice and jail services by increasing jail healthcare with 22 new positions and expanded mental health care. In addition, jail diversion remains a priority and successful programs continue like the READY program which connects individuals with legal support before their first court appearance helping reduce court delays in jail stays.

And the Medication Assisted Treatment MAT program that serves individuals with substance use disorders by combining medication with counseling to help a person stabilize from addiction. The county is advancing climate resiliency and sustainability by pursuing grants to fund Climate Action Plan initiatives and installing 150 new electric vehicle charging stations. The budget includes $131 million in planned projects for this fiscal year. Recreation projects include a parking lot replacement at Goleta Beach Park, ball field lighting at Orchard Community Park, amphitheater renovations at Kachuma Lake and restroom and infrastructure improvements at Rincon Park. Transportation projects include Bonita School Road Bridge which serves as a connection between San Luis Obispo County and the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe Phase 2 of the MoDOT multi-use path, providing safer ADA compliant access through the area.

And the Santa Claus Lane streetscape to increase coastal access through the Coastal Corridor between the City of Carpinteria and the community of Summerland The Regional Fire Communications Center construction was completed in fiscal year 24-25. It centralizes dispatch for fire and emergency medical services countywide. In fiscal year 25-26, construction will continue on the new probation building and improvements to the Santa Barbara County Jail. The County is finalizing a countywide recreational master plan to guide future park and trail development across the region. These projects will boost tourism and community wellness. Local farms now have more ways to welcome the community and enhance business with the implementation of the Agricultural Enterprise Ordinance.

The county is strengthening its financial and organizational excellence by maintaining a $47.5 million strategic reserve. The county is investing in technology and innovation by launching new budgeting and financial systems in 2025 for better efficiency and transparency, and dedicating $450,000 to cybersecurity enhancements to protect county data and systems. In the face of fiscal headwinds, the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget represents a deliberate balance between caution and continued progress. By holding the line on expenditures and drawing from prior set aside revenues, The County of Santa Barbara's Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget is all about stability amid uncertainty, sustaining progress through prudent planning so the County of Santa Barbara can continue to deliver exceptional services So all can enjoy a safe, healthy and prosperous life because we are one county with one future.

Please join me in thanking Kelsey for putting that together. Okay now it's just boring me. Go back to the slides please. Next slide. So we talked a lot about this and Kelsey highlighted it. This is largely status quo budget, but we are seeing reductions in funding for social services and more will likely be coming this fall. For now, we've been able to carefully prioritize plan and manage our resources. We're funding all mandates essential needs and obligations including most critical maintenance projects and infrastructure that we highlighted a little bit This budget complies with your financial policies as well. And as the video said, the strategic reserve is fully funded at our 8% target which is 8% of the general operating revenue. As you know we will need to maintain this level of prudence as we begin next fiscal year and start planning this summer for next budget year.

Challenges ahead, you know as Chair Kapp said we're operating in a slower economy both nationally and at the state with job growth cooling and unemployment slightly higher than it was before the pandemic. High costs of living and rising business expenses are putting pressure on families and local economies. And it's essentially a placeholder budget, and as you know follow-up trailer bills will occur as they negotiate with the governor. But the state's joint legislative budget plan at $325 billion is primarily financed through internal borrowing and it rejected many of the deeper cuts proposed by the governor so we'll see what happens ahead. We know that MediCal spending will be affected The budget freezes enrollment for immigrants without legal status.

Current enrollees can stay covered, but there will be a premium requirement and we know that some impacts are already being felt by our departments of health behavioral wellness as well Locally, you know our own budget is under pressure. We face projected deficits of nearly $20 million largely due to the rising costs of jail operations and other services that are outpacing our revenue growth.

And this budget is only the beginning. We'll need to return with strategies to reallocate one-time funds, pause lower priority projects and identify new revenue opportunities We know it's time to think long term and we will develop multi-year plans that balance fiscal sustainability with service delivery, especially in the face of state and federal reductions.

This slide is just a reminder, keep going thank you that many jurisdictions face budget shortfalls this season. We are fortunate to have managed the status quo budget this year and up to this point due to your fiscal policies and careful planning but we are well aware of what our neighbors and other colleagues are facing throughout the state And this slide just kind of demonstrates that while this is an uncertain time, I want to remind the board and the public and our department directors that the county has made major financial commitments over the last 10 years. And as a result we have been able to accomplish major feats.

And it also means that much of our ongoing revenue streams have already been committed which is why now there's limited resources available for new things or expansions. Yet we were able to continue major priorities and some are listed on the screen or highlighted in the video. And finally, We may not be able to change the course of the storm ahead, but we can be the lighthouse.

So I wanna just take this opportunity to thank your Board of Supervisors for your leadership. Also the shared commitment by everyone in this room to fiscal resilience as we prepare to face uncertainty with purpose and clarity. We'll focus on what we can control, make smart choices, value-driven decisions guided by accountability, innovation and service to the public.

Not every priority can be funded right now or in the near future. But with strategic choices and modern tools, we'll preserve what matters most to us. And before turning it to our budget director I do want to thank your board Our department leaders and their staff that are in the room or listening online. The County Executive Office, all the budget team led by our Director Paul Clemente. The Auditor Controller's office I saw the auditor back there and all of her staff thank you Betsy.

And most importantly to all our employees. In times of rapid change, their dedication is really what shines through and I'm in awe every day. They are the steady light guiding us toward a stronger more prosperous future and I want to say thank you to them. With that, I'll hand it over to Mr. Clemente.

Thank You Mona. Good morning Chair Kaps, members of the board In the coming slides we'll be talking about the context in which we developed this budget including the state and federal budget updates, provide a high-level overview of the numbers in the recommended budget and some changes from the preliminary budget numbers that you saw at the April workshops.

I'll touch on final budget adjustments and then we'll move to functional group summaries followed by board deliberations which will include follow-ups from workshops that we were directed to come back with at these hearings as well as further discussion around the uses of cannabis revenue Our budget development process began with the five-year forecast to your board in January, followed by the April workshops release of the recommended budget at the end of May and culminates with these hearings to adopt the 2526 budget.

As we discussed at workshops with the exception of social services, we managed to keep this a largely status quo budget. Departments kept costs under control in part by increasing salary savings and deleting some funded vacant positions. We also had to utilize significantly more general fund contribution than in the current year's budget to close department budget gaps most significantly in the Sheriff's Department which saw large increases in the cost of the jail medical contract And the need to bring the ongoing funding dedicated to current operations at the Northern Branch Jail up to the level of annual costs there.

Social services needed to significantly reduce their expenditures, including positions due to lack of growth in their revenue sources compared to recent costs and depletion of fund balance and still needed a one-time bridge of $3.4 million from the general fund to avoid further cuts that would have led to layoffs. Overall, to balance this budget we had to release $6.8 million from the ongoing general fund reserves that were set aside from growth in prior years. Due to this as well as the significant uncertainty around the state and federal budgets and our own fiscal outlook no expansions are recommended.

Our five-year forecast showed depletion of remaining ongoing funding reserves by 2728 With deficits beginning at that time and growing to a cumulative $19.6 million by the end of the five-year period. Much of this was driven by debt service for the expansion of the Northern Branch Jail and increased custody system operating costs. To balance deficits, increased revenue and decreasing expenses will be needed.

As plans for size and timing of debt funding become clearer we'll be working with departments beginning this summer on plans to contain costs ahead of returning to your board with a new five-year forecast next January. We've also listed other internal and external challenges on the slide, both known and unknown that we take into consideration for our fiscal outlook.

Turning to the state budget at the time these materials were developed the governor had released a May revise anticipating a 12 billion dollar deficit next year with the LAO's office anticipating a bit higher around 14 billion The Governor's proposal to balance included using various reserves and borrowing from other funds, as well as about $5 billion in cost reductions primarily achieved through limiting access to Medi-Cal and in home supportive services.

We know the legislature passed a version that pushed back on various funding reductions from the governor, as Mona mentioned. But it's unknown at this time what the final budget will look like until the governor and legislature reach agreement. Furthermore potential federal impacts are unknown and not considered in either state proposal right now but federal cuts would obviously make the state situation worse.

We know the potential impacts to the county in the Governor's May revise could impact up to 20% of the county's adult Medi-Cal eligible population and have revenue impacts in County Health and Behavioral Health Services. Those revenue impacts could include eliminating the prospective payment system payments to entities like County Health for Medi-Cal members with unsatisfactory immigration status.

Reimbursement for services would instead revert to a considerably lower fee-for-service rate and managed care negotiated rate, which could be a multimillion dollar reduction for county health. The governor proposed this elimination go into effect next January, but the legislature's proposal pushed that back to January 2027. It's unknown where that's going to land.

Additionally, Social Services has revised their revenue projections further downward by $1.5 million after the May revise. The department will incorporate this new information along with other information from state and federal budgets when they return in the fall with what's likely to be a significant rebudget and potential further decreases to positions. Other Health and Human Services departments will also be monitoring the budget situation and may need to return this fall as well.

The status of the federal budget is even more uncertain than the state. There's still a few months left in the federal fiscal year, but we do know that proposals right now would include cuts in many areas like education, health, housing and labor programs including significant potential impacts to Medi-Cal and CalFresh funding and administrative costs While we want no specifics until the final budget takes shape, there have been other impacts on the federal side from reduced or eliminated grants already such as a package of CDC grants to County Health for epidemiology and laboratory capacity building that came during the COVID period and were supposed to last through 2026.

The department was notified in late March that all billing to these grants was to cease at the end of that month. They have complied with that, shifting staff to other areas and programs in the department but given the timing of that notice it was already built into their 25-26 recommended budget So one of the final budget adjustments included in the adoption packet takes this $1.6 million grant out of next year's budget for county health.

Much like the state budget, we will continue to monitor developments and maybe back to your board with budget revisions later this year once the picture is clearer. This slide is a high-level summary of the changes to the operating budget from the preliminary budget that was presented at workshops, to the recommended budget we have before you today. It remains at 1.69 billion. As we can see, the change was very minimal just under $2 million total.

With most of that being in salary and benefits with the addition of 13 FTE, including adjustments related to the Community Corrections Partnership budget that was approved by your board in May which added four FTE to various departments. A grant received from the Department of State Hospitals that added for FTE and behavioral wellness and public defender. And additions in county health for a revenue generating dietician and EMS positions added per the recent AMR contract.

This is a breakdown of operating revenues by category, with our largest source being intergovernmental revenue from the state and federal government at almost $600 million. Followed by tax revenues at just under 500 million and charges for services at about 440 million dollars. All remaining revenue categories make up a total of 140 million or less than 10% of the 1.65 billion dollar total This is the same 1.65 billion operating revenue shown by fund, the general fund is our largest fund at almost $600 million or just over one third of the county's total.

Our health and human services funds make up some of our largest special revenue funds combining for 31% of total revenues. We also show here other large funds like the fire district and public works as roads funds as well as resource recovery fund in public works. Discretionary general revenues are seeing a 6.8% increase over the current year adopted numbers to $407 million, in part due to current-year actuals coming in higher than adopted which increases the baseline that the growth is factored onto for next year. The five-year average annual growth we see here is about 6.3%.

This shows the breakdown of the 407 million in discretionary revenues next year, with almost 80% of it coming from property taxes in blue. Transient occupancy tax we see at 5.5% of the total which is an upward trend from prior years with a voter approval of the TOT increase last fall. Sales tax and absolute dollars has remained somewhat flat and so we see here in green becoming a smaller piece of the overall pie over the past couple years.

Our cost allocation revenue remains fairly consistent at around 6% of the total. This is revenue that the general fund recoups from special revenue funds for costs incurred by the general fund in service to those funds. The other revenues category includes items like franchise fees and interest income, and has hovered around 6% for the past couple years. These are the revenue categories that make up the total $407 million on the left side, and the different functional groups that that money flows to as general fund contribution. Public Safety gets the largest share at $215 million with all the other groups around $50 million or less each.

This Sankey chart shows our operating expenditures by the three major categories, salaries and benefits, services and supplies, and other charges making up the $1.69 billion total operating budget. And then the functional groups that make up those costs with health and human services and public safety as our two largest groups combining for a total of about 1.1 billion dollars or 65% of the county's total operating budget And finally, just looking at a five-year trend of our salaries and benefits which is the largest category of expense that the county has. It is increasing about 3.6% or $30 million over the prior year adopted which is one of the smaller increases we've seen in recent years in part due to what I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation that departments are building in more salary savings and unfunding vacant positions than in prior years.

Including DSS's reduction of over 40 vacant funded positions that helped balance their budget this year. Salaries, pensions and health care costs make up the three largest components of salaries and benefits with salaries alone making up 61% of this category Also part of your adoption materials today is the list of what we call the Final Budget Adjustments or FBAs.

These are adjustments that departments bring to us after we finalize the recommended budget, so are shown in separate attachments that we ask your board to adopt along with the recommended budget. Many adjustments are carry forward activity from current year, department use of fund balance for one-time items and then other corrections or changes to budgets that weren't known in time to make it into the released recommended budget. But with adoption today will be incorporated into the adopted budget.

They're included as attachment A1, which makes a total of $3.2 million in changes across departments and reduces 5.5 FTE mostly from P&D, which is reducing fee revenue assumptions and associated positions until they come back to your board later this year with a fee study and potential increases. And then reductions in sheriff, which is a reduction of two FTE from cannabis enforcement and cannabis licensing teams has been discussed by your board previously.

Attachment A3 also contains final budget adjustments related to the release of $250,000 from General County Programs Sustainability Initiatives set aside to CSD for work on oil and gas regulations. And that concludes my budget overview. We can move on now to the functional group summaries, presented by Principal Analyst Katrina Fernandez. She'll be presenting high-level budget and FTE numbers for the groups as well as any significant updates since April workshops. Departments are available for questions from the board but none have opted to make presentations at this time and we will pause for public comment after each functional group.

At the conclusion of these presentations, we'll return to me and I'll present items that we were directed at workshops to return to your board with as we move into board deliberations.

Thank you to our CEO and Mr. Clemente, so now we move as indicated. I have a

question

for

Mr. Clemente. So Paul usually in general county programs we have the ending balances of we have all the different accounts that have all the balances. I didn't see it in the workshop material. I mean in the material right now is that something that's going to come to us during the hearing or where can I find that?

Supervisor Lavignino, that was provided in the workshop materials in April in the Department 990 and then I can look in our... So has that

changed? Has any of it changed or is it accurate still?

Hmm. I don't think any of it has changed significantly. And I'll just use that. It's in the D pages as well. I recommend a budget. Thank you

Other questions on the opening? Okay, thank you so much. We'll move to Katrina Fernandez with the overview of this functional group. Thank you.

Thank you Chair. Good morning members of the board. We'll start this morning with public safety. The Public Safety Functional Group is comprised of Court Special Services, the District Attorney, Fire, Probation, Public Defender and Sheriff. This functional group makes up roughly a third of countywide operating expenditures and total county FTEs, and receives 53% of the county's total general fund contribution at $215 million.

Here we highlight changes to the recommended budget since workshops. Updates to the public safety budgets were primarily driven by adjustments in the community corrections partnership budget adopted in May. Changes include the transfer of a reentry coordinator position from the probation department to the county health department, in support of CalAIM medical care coordination in the jails.

One-time funding of four collaborative courts attorneys for the district attorney and public defender to support Proposition 36 implementation, and a reduction in funding and FTE for the Sheriff's Alternative Sentencing Program. Here we summarize the expansion requests for the functional group, all of which were made by the Sheriff's Office and have been deferred to hearings.

The sheriff's expansion request totaled $2.7 million in ongoing funding, $710,000 in one-time funds and 10 FTE. These requests were presented at budget workshops and are not included in the CEO's recommended budget. That concludes the Public Safety Functional Group overview.

Okay, we can take questions on the entire group or by department however you'd like it. Or we can go to public comment first if you want to think about how we should tackle this as a package. Let's go to public comment first and then back to the board.

Chair Kaps and members of the board, we have three requests to speak from the public on this functional group. We're going to begin here in Santa Barbara with Karen Hauenstein to be followed by Maureen Earls. Karen?

Good morning Board and Chair. Karen Hauenstein from North County. To all law enforcement personnel in this county, this is your annual reminder that politics has no place whatsoever in application of the law Partisan interests can be advocated for in policy development. And often they're advocated for in budgets, but not ever in the daily decisions made to apply the law in our communities.

I figured this out the other day. I am actually Joyce Dudley's legacy because in 2020, Joyce Dudley, our liberal district attorney made a decision to sue me in civil court during the pandemic In case number 20CV02746, that decision changed the course of my life. Thank you for your service.

We will now go to Maureen Earls and we will go to Zoom with Robert Ornstein.

Good morning. I'm a member of CLU and the League of Women Voters Criminal Justice Work Group, and today I speak as an individual member of that group. In the board information report on the behavior health units in the jail, the sheriff's chart shows currently 90 behavior health unit beds in the main jail in Santa Barbara. And that's reduced from 108 number previously given.

Our question is, in the decision of the board April 1st you chose to build one full jail and one half jail for 128 behavior health units for mental health. Why doesn't the board just keep those 90 behavior health unit beds in the South Branch Jail and save the county $44 million in building costs, eliminating the one half new jail facility in the North Branch Jail?

These beds in the South Branch Jail are certified and approved for use. We see the data is clear. Mike Wilson's county population expert projects just over 800 average daily jail population in 10 years, growing from the 750 average the last two years. 90 beds in the South County Jail in the Northwest Wing would make the total jail bed population 838, over the rise to 800 projected by the next 10 years if no changes in policies and practices.

However, Mike Wilson also states the population will get below that 800 when the policies and practices for jail reduction already in planning for the county are implemented. The Jail Data Analysis Committee, and I'm a member of that committee is working on those recommendations and will report to you in October. The Be Well Project's jail reductions from current grants for mental health and bail reform will impact reduced jail numbers.

So again we need to change the North Branch jail expansion from one-and-one half to one new jail housing unit and keep the 90 behavior health unit beds in the main jail. Overbuilding at a minimum cost of $44 million, at a time of the county projecting income declining over the next five years is not fiscally responsible and will harm people in the county with cuts in important programs. Thank you.

We will now go to Zoom with Robert Ornstein then we will return to Santa Barbara for our final speaker George Kaufman.

Can

you hear me? Yes, we can. Please proceed.

OK. In a staff response to a board inquiry form submitted by Supervisor Hartman, staff indicated that by 2029 there will be a projected need of behavioral health beds or mental health treatment beds of 135 to 210. And it seems to be pretty clear that with that projection, the previously projected cost of adding additional one half pot of $44 million has got to be revisited. That does not seem like it could possibly be an adequate amount of money to spend given that large projected expansion. So my question really is, how can the Board of Supervisors possibly make final budget jail expansion decisions in the absence of staff responses that have specific dollar amounts for the costs of the projected 135 to 210 beds?

Question. How can that happen? I think more information clearly is needed before any kind of decision can be made. Thank you.

We will now return to Santa Barbara with George Coffman. George?

Good morning, I'm George Coffman and I'm representing NAMI Santa Barbara County this morning and I just wanted to reiterate our concern that we've expressed at the previous hearing about the continuum of care in our county's mental health crisis system I'm not going to review all the advantages and the disadvantages that we've discussed before, but just sort of make a plea to you. And I know that this is a difficult time financially to make any decision that is gonna cost money, but this is one that's gonna save money. We firmly believe in the long run because when you look beyond the efficiency of things like the mental health co-response teams to what the value of each individual outcome is I think we need to find a way along with the mobile mental health crisis benefit that has been mandated by the state.

And we've appreciated working with you all on this as well as the Sheriff's Department and behavioral wellness, and I hope we can find a way forward so thank you.

Thank you. And that concludes public comment on the Public Safety Functional Group.

Okay now I will turn it over to the board for questions in this functional group. Supervisor Nelson?

Yes, thank you Chairwoman Caps. Actually I'm glad that we had both the topics that came up with public comment because I think those are things that we probably need some clarity on. You know first is I guess my question for the CEO's office What direction has the board given on the pods? Cause it seems like it's something that's coming up from some advocates that we may go backwards from where the board is right now on this one and a half pod plan, which I think ended being unanimous once we all made some compromises on a few things. So I think there's unanimous support that was compromised moving forward and I just want to make sure that we're not going backwards on this or that we're gonna use this hearing as a way Um, re-litigate all of that.

I think that the board you know went through all that once and I you know and we did that after a couple years of looking into these numbers and it seems like this is going to be potentially just kicking the can and delaying more which ends up costing us more so getting clarity from CO's office on the board direction i think would be helpful

Supervisors, the board direction was to go ahead and pursue the one and a half pod option. It was a 3-2 vote by the way. We later came back to talk about removing some of the energy functions and using the process we were doing with We had a vote on energy efficiency projects and that's what we were going to do. That was a 5-0, but on the 1.5 pods it was a 3-2 vote. The staff is continuing to go along that path of working on the design and plans for

Okay, thank you. And I want to clarify my vote because mine was a negative vote on that and it was over the energy piece and I think that I don't want to speak for Supervisor Lavagnino but I do think we unanimously believe that the one-and-a-half pod was the right route to go forward. There were some of my colleagues that wanted one pod, some of us that wanted two pods and I think we came to conclusion that that was the best way to move forward. So I hope that's the message in my beginning out there And I hope that there's no cracks in that because I think that's going to send us backwards and end up taking more time. So, just wanted to respond to that because within the public safety functional group. The other question I had was the same question Mr.

Kaufman had. I know that we're funded with our co-response teams in the 25-26 budget but my understanding is that funding is not ongoing and that there might be a cliff there in the future My question would be is how are we going to see that coming up over the next year as we prepare actually for 26-27 budget? How would the board potentially, you know does that just come to an end or do we end up taking a look at that as a potential service level reduction moving forward. How is the, how do we anticipate seeing that?

Supervisor Nielsen through the chair. You're correct, all the teams are funded over the next fiscal year in this budget and much of it is with one time which is running out so I believe it is the 26-27 budget next year. The first time we'll likely be talking about that. We have had it on our five-year forecast multiple years as an upcoming fiscal issue so will be discussed there Which would be December, January and then April workshops.

You know if funding isn't allocated there will be a service level reduction or something of that kind from the department and further discussions at workshops to get direction from your board on how to address that.

Thank you for that Mr. Clemente because my real desire on that is I want to make sure that's a board decision that we decide that that's not some that's not a priority to fund moving forward. For currently right now it's high priority for myself. I find extreme value in those programs and in that service And I don't think that should be going away. I understand that a lot of the funding that we previously had with grants did that, but I hope that we have the opportunity to have a full hearing on that when we make that decision one way or the other because I do think there's a lot of evidence some of it anecdotal some of it is you know in the data that we should be looking at moving forward but it's definitely something I'm concerned about in a future budget year but I'm glad it got brought up here today so that we could ask those questions

Supervisor Harmon.

Yes, well excuse me I think one of the factors hanging over this budget is a lot of uncertainty on my part at least about what are the full costs of the jail and while we did make a decision for one-and-a-half pods it seems to me that there are some new questions that have emerged and that is what what is the Northwest The sheriff has said that it would be surge capacity. We have something suggesting North Branch Jail, but oops we forgot the suicide prevention. So there's a lot of costs there in addition We have a lot of discussion about mental health beds behavioral health beds And I don't know whether that Does that mean one person per unit or can you have two and how does that affect our? the overall need for beds.

And then finally, I would be very interested in understanding what the main jail property could be used for to try to generate some revenues over time to fund all of this. None of these questions have been answered and I would like them to come back because I think that's a fuller explanation of what we're getting into And before I make the final decision, we're still waiting, I think for the final cost to come back.

And I'd like to have a fuller sense of how that plays out and so the board information form requests were trying to outline and frame some of that but we don't have the numbers yet. And I think that's incumbent on us given that we're talking about a major impact to our budget for decades