On February 10, following increased scrutiny of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office’s significant overtime payouts, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to take several actions to increase fiscal accountability.
In addition to initiating official audits of the county government’s top five overtime-incurring departments — including the Sheriff’s Office and four as-yet-unidentified departments — and increasing reports on Sheriff’s Office overtime from quarterly to monthly, the board (on Supervisor Joan Hartmann’s suggestion) directed staff to research and report on its authority to create an Inspector General for fiscal and administrative oversight of the Sheriff’s Office, citing California statute AB1185. The Inspector General would function “like a circuit breaker on a runaway system,” Hartmann said. With Steve Lavagnino having left the meeting early due to personal emergency, the board voted 4-0 to accept these recommendations and several others made by the County Executive Office.
Sheriff’s Office overtime costs have been a longstanding budgetary woe for the county, but in recent years, the payouts have been exceptionally high. In fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, overtime costs reached $20.4 million — up from $12.4 million in FY 2021-22. Earlier this month, county jail custody sergeant Segun Ogunleye was arrested, removed from his position, and charged with 114 criminal counts pertaining to alleged time-card fraud, including misappropriation of public funds and false entries in records. But while Ogunleye may be an unusual case — the majority of overtime coding is fully permitted under existing department regulations and union agreements — the larger problem is widespread. Last year, some 29 employees earned more in overtime than their base salaries. The department’s top overtime earner received $170,000 in overtime.