In a significant course correction this week, the county Board of Supervisors cut $1.4 million from its cannabis budget, taking the knife to administration, auditing, planning review, and especially law enforcement.
Voting 4-0 on Tuesday, with Supervisor Bob Nelson of Orcutt absent, the supervisors settled on $5.3 million for cannabis-related spending in 2025-26, or 20 percent less than what they had previously budgeted. They raised the growers’ licensing fees, too, to make ends meet.
It was a belated attempt to “right-size” a program in which the county’s ongoing, or fixed cannabis costs have exceeded revenues for three consecutive years, requiring the use of carryover cannabis funding to make up the difference.
“The program is evolving, and we’re seeing a lot of attrition and we’re losing operators,” Brittany Odermann, deputy county executive officer, told the board on Tuesday. “The staff time spent on the cannabis program needs to be reimbursed. We’ve seen our numbers go down and down and down for cannabis … so we’re trying to find that balance.”
During a wide-ranging hearing on the shrinking local industry, the board also loosened the requirements for background checks at cannabis operations and lowered the acreage caps on cannabis, both for greenhouses in Carpinteria Valley and outdoor “grows” in the North County.
Cannabis revenues collected by the county peaked at $15.7 million in 2021. Since then, the price of pot has plummeted, largely because of a glut on the market. For 2025-26, beginning this July 1, the board is projecting revenues of only $5.5 million from cannabis taxes.
The largest budget cut — about $472,000 — will come out of the Sheriff’s Office cannabis enforcement team. It will lose one of five deputies, for a savings of $242,000; plus $220,000 that the team will no longer receive for overtime work, and $10,000 for services and supplies.
<img data-recalc-dims="1" width="3024" height="4032" data-attachment-id="624947" data-permalink="https://www.independent.com/2025/06/04/reality-check-santa-barbara-county-supes-cut-1-4-million-in-cannabis-related-costs/cannabis-6/" data-orig-file="https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cannabis.jpeg?fit=3024%2C4032" data-orig-size="3024,4032" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta=""aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1556881167","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.0019267822736031","title":"","orientation":"1"" data-image-title="cannabis" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>Wholesale prices for cannabis have dropped by 57 percent, on average, since 2021, largely because of a glut on the market. ]] The Sheriff’s Office will take the biggest hit. In a surprise move, the board signaled it may shift law enforcement funds to health, education and youth programs. Read More
