The county faces a growing budget deficit of about $35 million. There is no upside to blaming the county employees’ pension agreements. When you make a deal, good, bad or ugly, you live up to your agreement. Similarly, proposing to cut programs should be the last resort. Instead, we should view the glass as half full and increase revenue. Can we? Sure.
In generating revenue, the county is at the bottom of the barrel. In sales tax, per capita revenue, Buellton is at $385; Solvang and Santa Barbara are $205 and $209 respectively; the county is the lowest at $65. The returns from the Tax on Transients (“TOT” or bed tax) is similar. The incorporated cities generate $44 million a year in bed tax while the county generates $8.9 million, with less than $4 million coming from the agricultural North County.
At last year’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Short Term Rentals (“STRs”) it was noted STRs produce about $1.5 million in bed tax. Only about 50 percent of the actual STRs operating are paying the bed tax. Allowing these folks to be lawful will be at least a $1.5 million increase. While there are no figures on sales tax generated by STRs, it is significant.