A new Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report calls for the shutdown of the main Santa Barbara County Jail in Santa Barbara, as part of an effort to get the sheriff’s office overtime under control.
It’s been an issue for years, but it has become a bigger one as the county deals with what’s projected to be a $66 million budget shortfall over the next five years.
The office has a $10 million overtime budget for the current fiscal year, but projections from a few months ago put the estimate at $19 million.
The county's board of supervisors asked the Auditor-Controller to investigate.
The grand jury points out that one of the biggest staffing drains on the law enforcement agency is the jails. It recommends that the sheriff’s office decommission and close the old main jail facility in Santa Barbara and focus detention on a newer facility in Santa Maria.
The report also calls for negotiating with the deputies' union to eliminate the use of leave as hours worked and to restrict overtime.
The grand jury also recommends additional training for command staff to improve staffing efficiency and the implementation of a new payroll system to improve overtime tracking.
