Playing DOGE-Ball With County Supervisors
By Andy Caldwell
Well, the board of sups approved its 48% raise, worth some $56,000 per year, and to say they didn’t take kindly to the effort by yours truly to defeat the same would be a monumental understatement. They not only attacked me personally, but the board also dishonored the very honorable Brooks Firestone who served our county and state for all the right reasons with the “right stuff.”
The supervisors took exeption to my characterizing their job as part-time (if you exclude grandstanding, politicking, and electioneering) from their so-called list of job duties. And they completely ignored the ire of their constituents that raising their salaries up to $171,000 in one fell swoop didn’t just appear to be self-serving, it was self-serving.
Let’s consider the context of this raise since these politicians, in many cases, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of campaign contributions for the honor of serving as a county supervisor. Then they turn around and complain the job doesn’t pay enough and the hours are too long?
With this raise, these supervisors have declared themselves overpaid county employees rather than public servants.
Full-Time Pay for Part-Time Work
The real issue here, in the end, is not whether the job is full-time or not, because a raise this big is simply obscene. That is, they don’t deserve to earn orders of magnitude above what the average constituent earns, which is $60,129 (nearly the amount of their raise!), especially during a tsunami of inflation that has too many households paying for their groceries with credit cards, i.e., borrowing the money.
Of course, they didn’t compare their salaries to that of their constituents. Oh no, they compared their pay to other California coastal county supervisors, and to their own staff, which is not an apples-to-apples comparison for a multitude of reasons. They also raised the salaries of some staff members and other electeds to $300,000 per year during this same meeting. Because of the largesse associated with government retirement pensions, most of these “public servants” will be making nearly $300,000 for the rest of their lives, meaning the rest of us are in essence living in a feudal society/economy.
They are our lords; we are their serfs.
A Bigger, More Expensive, Government
This is all par for the course. These supervisors have done absolutely nothing to control the cost of county government, nor to downsize the same. In a few short years, the county payroll – including salaries, benefits, and pensions – is slated to hit $1 billion. And to rub our noses in it, the recipients of this bounty continue to claim they are being fiscally prudent.
While the rest of the country is celebrating what Trump and DOGE are doing, Santa Barbara County supervisors have taken the opposite tack. For example, the federal government and much of the private sector is eliminating DEI programs as wasteful spending; meanwhile the county is about to hire a new DEI “manager” who will add another $200,000 to taxpayers’ yearly burden.
The sups do not deserve this raise – not to repeat myself but that they voted for themselves – for myriad reasons. In fact, if anything, they should have voluntarily reduced their pay to make up for the abominable job they’ve been doing. One of those reasons, for example, would include their attempt to cheat American Medical Response out of a contract it won fair and square. The county wasted $11.1 million dollars in the process, including buying millions of dollars of ambulances it won’t ever need.
Coddling Criminals at the County Level
The sups also approved construction of a $250 million dollar trash digester that doesn’t work. This boondoggle is a disaster for ratepayers who will be stuck paying for the facility for decades to come. By reducing their compensation, the sups could at least have contributed to helping pay for the debacle.
Then, there is the county’s $400 million maintenance deficit on roads, buildings, and parks. It is only going to get worse because this board reneged on a promise made by previous boards to continue paying down this deficit every year by diverting 18% of the general fund revenue growth that comes primarily from local property taxes. That maintenance money has gone instead to fatten the paychecks of the supervisors and county staff. Thank them next time you lose a tire in a pothole.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this board has gone off the rails when it comes to public safety. We elect the Sheriff of the County to run our jail, but he can’t do that optimally because the county supervisors have gone soft on crime as it pertains to incarcerating criminals. They are doing this in one of two ways. First, by insisting that people accused of serious crimes not be held in jail on a pre-trial basis (against the advice and consent of the sheriff). Second, and worse, they are severely downsizing the capacity of the old south county jail without replacing that capacity by building enough new units at the north county jail.
Apparently, the Board of Supervisors would rather handcuff the sheriff than restrain criminals, while they themselves fleece the taxpayers.
Unleash Your Inner Sleuth with Team D.O.G.E Santa Barbara Current!
Who’s ready to dive into an exhilarating mission to shine a spotlight on Santa Barbara County? We’re assembling a crack team of volunteers for our own D.O.G.E (Department of Government Efficiency) to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in public and nonprofit organizations across our great county. This is your chance to bring transparency and accountability to our sleepy, intransparent community—while having a blast doing it!
We’re on the hunt for:
AI-savvy researchers and writers to decode data and craft compelling, honest and accurate stories.
Accounting and legal whizzes to sniff out financial shenanigans and legal loopholes.
And here’s the kicker: we might even spin up a rogue subgroup—F.A.F.O. (F—K Around and Find Out)—to track down how well our local elected leaders and administrators are implementing their new guidance out of Washington D.C.
If you’re up for some serious fun wrapped in meaningful public service (the free type, not the greedy Board of Supervisors type) , this is your moment. Join us, and let’s make waves together!
Drop me a line with a bit about yourself and your contact details at JamesFenkner@gmail.com
Perhaps a "Recall the Supervisors" ballot initiative could be promulgated? If one should be recalled, then maybe all can be. It's worth thinking about and then following through with if enough people seem willing to take it on. A new election could follow with absolute guarantees by the candidates that they'll rescind the raise.
Thank you, Andy. I see a parallel between the way these supervisors arrogantly attacked you and the way Zelensky attacked Trump and Vance. They have no idea how grateful they should be and how they should thank us for even giving them a job when, like Zelensky, the majority of our supervisors couldn't hold a job outside government. We need to recall Capps and co. Laura is an entitled do-nothing who thinks she's Santa Barbara royalty because of her father - who didn't even bother to teach, just gave As to suck ups in his class. And unfortunately, she's my supervisor.