Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told the Board of Supervisors earlier this week that overtime expenses were the main cause of his department’s budget shortfall.
The department logged nearly 300,000 hours of overtime for the 2024–25 fiscal year—an 8% increase over the previous year.
Brown said the increase is due to chronic understaffing.
The Board of Supervisors pressed the sheriff for answers. Supervisor Steve Lavagnino questioned why the department didn’t curb overtime spending or alert the board earlier.
“This thing seems like it would have run a red flag like three or four, five, six months ago and said, ‘Hey, we're going to have a big problem at the end of the year,’” Lavagnino said.
Brown responded that adequate staffing is critical to jail safety and to ensuring deputies in the field have the necessary support.
He said the department has hired more than 100 deputies over the past 18 months and expects overtime costs to drop significantly as a result.
The board ultimately approved Brown’s funding request, though several supervisors expressed frustration.
