Sales Tax Increase Won’t be on Santa Barbara County’s June Ballot
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) Santa Barbara County voters won't see a one cent sales tax increase in unicorporated county areas on the June 2026 ballot despite a lengthy discussion at the latest board meeting.
"Even if I thought it was the right thing to do, it is dead on arrival," said Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino.
He also said the supervisors were already being criticized for approving a pay raise last year.
Santa Barbara County Public Information Officer Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta said the county heard a lot about a sales tax ordinance but did not act on it.
"Our board took no action, which means they are not moving the potential sales tax forward but they also didn't deny it, so what does no action mean this was the first reading for an ordinance so it means there will not be a second reading of the ordinance," said Buttitta
"So there is nothing proposed for the June primary ballot."
The sales tax in unincorporated parts of the county is 7.75 percent.
That is the same as Buellton's but lower than the 9.25 sales tax in the city of Santa Barbara.
With no movement on raising it the county is now looking for other ways to balance the budget.
"The projected shortfalls as we look ahead to coming fiscal year which is 2026 through 2027 is $23 million, so that is our projected deficit and those are ongoing funds so looking ahead, our 5 year forecast shows that number increasing," said Buttitta.
A boost to visitors and tourism would help since the county benefits from TOT or transient occupancy taxes, but is not something the county can count on.
The county has had a balanced budget for years, but in the wake of the so called Big Beautiful Bill signed into law last year the county faces new challenges.
"So we are forecasting an ongoing budget deficit and the primary driver of that is state and federal budget changes so we are receiving less money from the state and federal government and on top of that there are several services that we are mandated to provide so we have less money to do certain services that we are mandated to do and just like all businesses we are also seeing the cost of doing business increasing," said Buttitta.
During the recent meeting Supervisor Laura Capps said Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office overtime almost equals the deficit.
She would like to study that and more.
"There are several things we are looking at to balance our budget, so one of the first things that we are doing is departmental budgets, they are looking at their budgets and seeing where there are options to make some cuts," said Buttitta.
Efficiency measures, hiring controls and revenue generating options are likely to be hot topics.
"Revenue generating options, what you saw proposed today that is not moving forward was one of those potential ways to balance the budget, also strategic groups of reserves and one time funds and and then prioritization of critical safety net services," said Buttitta.
The public can watch the recent meeting online.
"We are really looking at everything we can to balance our budget and looking forward the board is going to be hearing a lot more of this and the public is going to be hearing a lot more of this," said Buttitta.
In March the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will get and update on the upcoming budget from staff.
Budget workshops will follow in mid-April.
"That is where all the departments will present the budgets so our board will be discussing ways to balance the budget when we get to our April workshops and then the budget will be finalized when we get to June of this year," said Buttitta.
For more information visit https://countyofsb.org
