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SB City Council agrees on balanced budget, including changes to Police Department

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - With the coronavirus pandemic creating extra financial challenges, the Santa Barbara City Council agreed on a balanced budget for the 2021 fiscal year during a virtual meeting Monday night.

The City Council also heard from the public during the meeting, which stretched into the late-night hours.

Mayor Cathy Murillo says the balanced budget comes from the city dipping into reserve funds that it already had, plus a five percent cut for all city departments.

That includes the Santa Barbara Police Department--which is under more resident scrutiny as global protests and conversations about police brutality and systemic racism continue.

Murillo says the city is committed to holding future conversations about what Santa Barbara residents want the role of local police to look like. The new police station project is also currently on hold.

The city is creating four new positions to address social service, mental health and code enforcement as an alternative to law enforcement responding in those situations. Murillo says the city is also exploring if Public Works can take over some police functions, such as giving out parking tickets.

“The George Floyd murder had us thinking ‘What more can we do?” Murillo said Tuesday. “This budget does reflect our acknowledgement that we need to do more for people, social services, and of course make sure that our police department is humane and community focused.”

Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez says that a new police station facility has been necessary for a long time, but that now is the time to re-imagine that project, given the pandemic-induced recession and widespread conversations regarding policing.

Gutierrez points out that the building does not have changing rooms for female officers, and is not structurally sound enough to survive a big earthquake. He says the current price tag, however, needs more thought.

“We should re-examine the entire situation to see if we can do it in a more cost-effective manner,” he said.

The city also approved $1.115 million for redesigning the Santa Barbara Public Library plaza, in an attempt to boost access to education for the community. It agreed on another $50,000 for funding homelessness programs.

The city also committed to working with the local African American community on a path to building a Black Community Center.

Gutierrez believes that given the current financial limitations, the budget changes are a positive first step toward facilitating change in Santa Barbara that residents, the Black Lives Matter movement and other activists want to see.

He hopes that people will be patient as city leaders work to make policy changes, and that Santa Barbara's budget changes can encourage other cities to take similar actions.

“We’re not gonna stop,” he said. “We’re gonna continually reach out to the African American community and all the other people of color and minority groups and get their input on what we’re doing on the local government level. So they feel like they’re being represented and taken seriously.”

City Council is set to officially vote on the revised budget during a meeting next Tuesday.

Article Topic Follows: Santa Barbara - South County

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Ryan Fish

Ryan Fish is a reporter, sports anchor and forecaster for NewsChannel 3-12. To learn more about Ryan, click here.

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