There was no shortage of bittersweet in the air at this Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Faced with cutting $28 million and 399 positions from the county’s $1.6 billion budget, the supervisors had been preparing over the last seven months for this moment. So, too, did County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato. They took advantage of the time to buffer the blows inflicted by the combined onslaught of Donald Trump’s massive federal budget cuts, not-insubstantial state budget cuts, and chronic overspending by the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services — the two county departments most essential to those with little or no money.
By the time Miyasato and the county’s leadership team had rearranged the deck chairs on their Titanic, the 300 positions had been whittled down to only 60 living, breathing human beings who would actually lose their jobs. The remaining 240 positions were already vacant and would not be filled.
After tallying up the results of the six-hour board meeting, the supervisors were told that only 60 positions would be eliminated. It also turned out that, on Monday evening, a last-minute budget deal at the state legislature appears to have saved 17 public health nurse jobs from the budget axe. If Governor Gavin Newsom goes along, these changes will lighten the fiscal load felt by the state’s 58 counties because of federal cuts to social safety net programs.
Still, the layoffs weighed upon the supervisors. “You are not a number,” more than one of the supervisors said to the county employees assembled in the room or watching via social media. “You are part of the county family.” Miyasato echoed that theme, stressing how many laid-off workers might once again be part of the county “family.” She told a story of a former county planner who got laid off during the Great Recession, got rehired as an emergency worker, and then got laid off again. Today that person, Miyasato revealed, is now her right-hand bean counter and budget cruncher, Paul Clementi.
This is Miyasato’s last budget. She is stepping down later this summer after 12 years at the helm. Up on the fourth floor of the county administration building, Miyasato is not merely respected; she is revered. Her departure will alter the fundamental chemistry of how county government functions here in Santa Barbara. So too, though less dramatically, will be the departure of Supervisor Steve Lavagnino — famous for his comedic wit and open-hearted reach-across-the-aisle style — who is stepping down after 16 years…