Overview
Santa Barbara County’s FY 2025-26 adopted operating budget totals $1.69 billion in expenditures against $1.64 billion in operating revenues, with non-operating revenues of $0.05 billion. Staffing is 4,738.5 full-time equivalents, down 6.5 from the recommended budget. The adopted budget addresses the Board’s focus areas of a safe and just community, a thriving and sustainable environment, a healthy and equitable community, and continued financial stability — funding mandated and essential services, debt service obligations, deferred maintenance and infrastructure needs, and Board priorities under the Board’s financial management policies.
Source: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26 Recommended to Adopted Budget.
At a glance — FY 2025-26 adopted
Source: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26.
Adopted budget, FY 2025-26
Recommended-to-adopted changes are exact in the summary; adopted totals are stated rounded to $0.01 billion. Adopted operating revenues of $1.64 billion are $1,968,900 (0.12%) below the recommended budget, predominantly from adjustments in state and federal revenue. Adopted operating expenditures of $1.69 billion are $609,900 (0.04%) below recommended, driven by a $2.1 million decrease in salaries and benefits, partly offset by a $1.4 million increase in services and supplies and other charges.
| Operating revenues — recommended | $1.65 billion |
| Operating revenues — adopted | $1.64 billion |
| Change in operating revenues | ($1,968,900) |
| Operating expenditures — recommended | $1.69 billion |
| Operating expenditures — adopted | $1.69 billion |
| Change in operating expenditures | ($609,900) |
| Non-operating revenues — recommended | $0.04 billion |
| Non-operating revenues — adopted | $0.05 billion |
| Change in non-operating revenues | $1,359,000 |
| Staffing — recommended (FTEs) | 4,745.0 |
| Staffing — adopted (FTEs) | 4,738.5 |
| Change in staffing (FTEs) | (6.5) |
Source: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26.
Changes by fund, recommended to adopted
Operating expenditure changes by fund (excluding operating transfers). The salary-and-benefits changes sum to −$2,031,100 and the services-and-supplies/other-charges changes sum to +$1,421,200, giving the total change of −$609,900 — exact. The fund rows also sum exactly to −$609,900. The salary decrease is driven by a $621,100 reduction of County Health extra-help positions after the federal government rescinded Epidemiology Laboratory Capacity and COVID-19 immunization grant funding, plus 6.5 un-funded FTEs (3 in Planning and Development on fee-study delays; 3.5 in the Sheriff’s Office on cannabis-enforcement reallocation and dispatch reorganization). Services-and-supplies increases were driven by Public Works projects and legal services ($1.2 million) and $925,600 to replace the Sheriff’s in-car video system, partly offset by a $710,400 County Health reduction on the rescinded grants.
| General — salaries & benefits | ($980,100) |
| General — services & supplies | $652,200 |
| General — total change | ($327,900) |
| Roads Maintenance | $641,000 |
| Health Care | ($1,331,500) |
| Alcohol and Drug Programs | ($41,000) |
| Planning and Development | ($465,900) |
| Information Technology Services | $108,700 |
| Fire Protection District | $210,000 |
| Flood Control Water Conservation District | $500,000 |
| South Coast Flood Zone | $96,700 |
| Total change in operating expenditures | ($609,900) |
Source: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26.
Elected officials
No elected officials are named in the cited summary, so none are listed here rather than supplied from another source.
Source: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26.
Sources & notes
- Only source used: County of Santa Barbara, Summary of Significant Changes, FY 2025-26 Recommended to Adopted Budget (CivicPlus-hosted county document). Summary of significant changes.
- Sum checks: salary changes (−$2,031,100) plus services-and-supplies changes (+$1,421,200) equal the total expenditure change (−$609,900); fund-row changes sum exactly to −$609,900; staffing change exact (4,745.0 − 6.5 = 4,738.5).
- What is not claimed: exact adopted operating revenue and expenditure dollars are not stated in the summary (only $0.01-billion-rounded totals) and are not invented; no General Fund total, function breakdown, or outstanding-debt total is shown from this summary; the county Budget Documents page row for 2025-2026 yielded no text and is not cited for figures.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified Santa Barbara County palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a county color.