TAX NEWS - June 2010

Board undecided on jail tax

The fate of a proposed half-cent sales tax that would help bankroll construction of a new county jail ran the gauntlet of the Board of Supervisors yesterday, but continued to hang in the balance.

The board has until July 13 to place the tax on the November ballot, and after a slew of concerns about the tax were raised yesterday, county officials crafting the measure will need every second of that time to succeed.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown has trumpeted the tax as the "last resort" in a decades-long effort to build a new jail.

The current facility off Calle Real has been chronically overcrowded since the 1980s, operating on any given day at 120 percent of its maximum capacity.

For years, county grand juries have manifested the need for a new jail, while Brown, as well as several of his predecessors, have been required by court order to release countless prisoners early.

During his remarks to the board, Brown said the days of compromising public safety by letting prisoners go free, being hamstrung in efforts to prevent crime through brief "flash" incarcerations and operating out of a deteriorating and cramped facility, must end.

"We desperately need more space in our entire jail system," Brown said, adding later, "What we have now simply isn't working. We have to invest in a new approach."

Brown, who was elected to a second term on June 8, has undertaken significant efforts over the years to see that a new jail is built.

Along with spearheading an effort to purchase a lot for the facility on the outskirts of Santa Maria, he secured $56 million in state funding, which would cover about 70 percent of the jail's estimated $80 million price tag. These funds, however, are contingent upon the cash-strapped county coming up with the rest.

Brown also convened a blue ribbon commission to study the jail overcrowding problem. The commission, which met for about a year, released its findings in 2008.

Chief among them was the need for a new, 304-bed jail facility. But another key component to fighting jail overcrowding, the commission and Brown said, is the creation and long-term support of prevention and education programs that will help whittle down the 70 percent recidivism rate.

Although jail overcrowding is an old problem, its solution has eluded county officials in the best of times, and now, is doing the same in the worst of times.

In 2000, when the state and county wallowed in surpluses, county voters resoundingly defeated Measure U2000, which would have funded a new jail and won only 38.9 percent of the vote.

Now, times are much worse, and three consecutive years of deep budget cuts have left the sheriff's department with fewer resources, not more.

It remains to be seen if county voters will be more likely to vote for a tax increase for a new jail now, or if it will be a repeat of 2000.

Brown hopes the economic crisis, and the paralyses it's placed on funding large projects like a jail, will help the tax win approval. How might this happen?  Brown explained that unlike in 2000, when voters might have believed a jail could be paid for with taxes the county had already collected, today, there's no choice other than a new tax.

"It's tough times for all of us," Brown said. "We need to get creative, we need to get bold, we need to be very forthright with the voters and get their help with this."

The proposed tax would generate and estimated $30 million a year, about half of which would go toward paying for initial construction. Once built, this money would be used to fund the estimated $15 million to $17 million in annual operation costs.

Nearly 25 percent of the proceeds from the tax, or roughly $7.5 million, would b spent on prevention and education programs, like a work furlough system and providing mental health services and discharge planning for the homeless.

"We need to both build and prevent," Brown said. "It's not one or the other, in fact it's both."

Brown continued: "The size of the jail simply will not work if we do not invest simultaneously in prevention [and] intervention … programs."

The remaining 25 percent would be split among various law enforcement and fire protection agencies around the county.

There are several reasons for this component: firstly, Brown explained, is the need to appeal to a broad base of voters. One way to do this is to offer a percentage of the tax, which would be determined on a per capita basis, to help fund firefighting and front-line law enforcement efforts.

Brown hopes that this will help win over voters in the county's cities who might tend to believe that the county jail doesn't concern their public safety, when in fact all of those who are arrested, from Carpinteria to Guadalupe, are locked in the county jail.

Another reason for this, Brown explained, is to lend a helping hand to fellow agencies, many of which are struggling mightily with budget deficits of their own.

But how this pie gets split up might well be the linchpin of whether or not Brown gets his tax.

Several members of the board, especially 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, said they wanted to see a larger chunk go to the county fire department.

Under an alternative proposal presented by Brown, roughly $2 million would go to the county fire department out of an annual pot of $5 million.

Carbajal said he wanted to see $3 million go to the county department, which is anticipating future budget deficits in the tens of millions of dollars due to falling property tax values.

I "ask you to work harder," Carbajal told Brown. "Work with county fire to come up with $3 million per year."

Although Brown said he'd do his best, he acknowledged after the meeting that he doesn't believe it would be possible or fair to allot $3 million to the county fire department.

"The problem I've got is that whatever we do has to be equitable for our counterparts in the city and the law enforcement arena as well," Brown said. "You can't satisfy everybody in this process."

The board also registered concern with the 10-year lifespan of the tax. Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr said she thought it should be strung out over 20 years. She noted that by the time the jail is built in four years, the tax would only be in effect for another six before the county would either have to come up with an alternate source of funding or seek an extension.

Another concern was the measure's proposed title, "Jail Construction, Operation & Public Safety Enhancements Ballot Measure." While accurate, one public speaker said he didn't feel the title was "sexy" enough.

Indeed, 5th District Supervisor Joe Centeno said with that title, "You'll be dead before you start."

The trepidation expressed by the board, which is as familiar as anyone with the need for new a jail, might not bode well for Brown's effort to convince two-thirds of county voters to approve a new tax.

But he noted that a 1 percent state sales tax is scheduled to sunset at the same time that the new half-cent sales tax would go into effect, meaning county residents wouldn't notice.

And, quite honestly, he said, something has to give when it comes to building a new jail.

"There's never going to be a good time for this," Brown said. "There's going to be worse and worse times, perhaps."

He continued: "I pledge that if we work together with this, we can make it work."

The board will consider a tweaked version of the measure on July 6. If it's approved then, it will be considered a second time — a common formality — on July 13.