New Grand Jury Report Reignites Conversation On Sheriff’s Overspending

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – How has the Santa Barbara County Sheriff spent nearly double its budget in overtime? That is the question of focus in a new Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report.

The report brings the issue of the department's overspending back in to the spotlight after the Santa Barbara County's Board of Supervisors probed at the overtime costs earlier this year. The Board of Supervisors determines funds for all departments at the start of each fiscal year. The Sheriff's department receives 33 percent of the 2025- 2026 General Fund – which includes $10 million budgeted towards overtime payments.

The Sheriff's department has exceed this $10.1 million overtime budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, projected to nearly double its allocated budget by the end of the year according the report.

During June 9th's Board meeting, a revenue team presented an update for the third quarter of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will come to an end on June 30th, 2026. Their reporting says thus far, the Sheriff's department has exceed their annual overtime budget by 134 percent or roughly $3.6 million dollars, totaling $13.6 million – the most overtime payed out in the past eight years.

They project the costs to exceed budgets by $7.4 million dollars, totaling $17.4 million.

The Sheriff's budget has increased routinely over the course of the past 10 years to cover understaffing, maintenance of the county jail, and provide appropriate benefits – but with a 33 percent portion of the County's General Fund, the Sheriff's department receives the largest amount of funding than any other county department – roughly one-third of the 2025- 2026 General Fund.

In February 2026, Sheriff Bill Brown was challenged by the Board about his department's overspending. Sheriff Brown cited staffing shortages as a primary problem, but regardless a new plan was approved to conduct thorough reviews of operations and payroll policies.

“At the end of the day, you do control my budget. And so if you decide that you want to cut my budget by $10 million or $15 million, we will work within that budget to the extent that we can. I could do it. But it's going to result in things that neither you nor your constituents will be happy with.”

Charts included in the jury's report details while the department's budget and overtime expenses have increased over the years, the number of patrol miles, arrests, and the jail population has not.

The third quarter report confirms the number of vacancies throughout the department have lowered.

To conduct its report, the Grand Jury utilized Santa Barbara County Auditor's Reports, staffing and staffing plans, performance review forms, jail beds, budgets, and training, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Board of Supervisor meeting minutes, and other documents to completes its findings and recommendations.

The jury narrowed the main reasons attributing to the department's overspending to four main factors: Number of Vacancies, Memorandum of Understanding, Insufficient Management Training and Oversight, Operations of Two Jail Branches.

The report details the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's department's history of understaffing, and due to the high cost of living in the county, the department has implemented financial incentives to attract enough staff to fill all positions. Perks like signing bonuses, competitive salaries, and mandatory overtime has been enough to close the staff shortage in recent years, but not the overtime costs.

"During the last 3 years, the staff shortage has been particularly acute. Although the Sheriff’s Office has hired new staff, it has not alleviated the overtime issues in part because those new hires are not able to work independently yet."

These salaries and benefits are upheld by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and the Board of Supervisors. The current MOU allows deputies to log accrued time as "time worked" on their time cards – allowing them to be paid overtime even when they work less than 80 hours in a two-week pay period.

In a practice known as "pyramiding," employees are able to use accrue time leave (vacation, sick leave, family leave, overtime, and comp time) for the days of the week in which they already were paid, and still receive overtime despite not actually working the complete 40 hours.

"In her report to the Board of Supervisors, the Auditor-Controller noted that this practice appeared on 35.7 percent of the timecard in the period they examined. The Grand Jury believes that the Sheriff’s Office does not have any control over how Deputies use their accrued time as this practice is allowed by the MOU."

The current MOU expires in June 2026, but can be renewed for another three years if the two parties agree. The jury recommends the terms of the document be modified as the current MOU gives the department little control over their payroll. Along with a new MOU, the grand jury recommends a complete retraining of payroll policies and budget training for staff.

The current human resources policies outlined by both County and Sheriff’s Office require timecard signatures from employees, completed with overview and approval by supervisors. According to the report, this policy is not enforced within the department, and the current payroll system allows for payment of time even if the timecard has not been approved by a supervisor.

"Particularly when payroll policies are not strictly enforced in such a dynamic working environment, it is not surprising that mistakes are made."

The jury says these excessive overtime hours, are not completely at the fault of the sheriff and his department. His staff also maintains operations of the county jail, but having to split enforcement and tasks at two separate branches is expensive, and doesn't allow the department to utilize their resources and staff efficiently.

The 2021 lawsuit Murray v. County of Santa Barbara required the county to ensure adequate staffing and living conditions in the county jail to avoid overcrowding and dangerous situations for inmates – meaning the sheriff must make sure both the South and North county branches are fully staffed with appropriate personnel.

The jury says having to duplicate positions waste resources very critical to the department in a time of funding cuts and staff shortages.

"The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff work together to create a decommissioning plan for the Main South County Jail with the goal of closing that facility as quickly as possible. To be completed by December 31, 2026."

In addition to the economic loss of the department's overspending, the report also makes note of the physical and mental taxation on an employee's wellbeing. With "no caps" on the amount of overtime an employee can log, the amount of stress experienced on a daily basis can accumulate and affect performance and work-life balance.

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, it was found that nearly 300,000 hours of overtime were logged – with 55 deputies logging over 1000 hours of OT. If not regulated, the jury warns these conditions pose even more future costs and risks.

"Working too much is a hazard for the individual and also presents a potential liability to the County for the medical costs and other impacts of having a stressed individual in a hazardous position."

The Sheriff's Office must respond to the report within 60 days of publication, and the Board of Supervisors is given 90 days.

You can find the full report here.

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