SUPERVISORS THROW ANOTHER $440K AT ‘INTENSIVE FAMILY SERVICES’

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom, quietly approved another $440,000 for something called 'Intensive Family Services' via CALM, Inc. It's truly inspiring how our local officials manage to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on programs that never seem to quite fix the underlying problems, year after year. One might almost suspect they enjoy the perpetual motion of it all – a career full of 'solving' issues that mysteriously persist, ensuring job security for everyone involved.

This latest expenditure, for the period covering July 2026 through June 2027, was rubber-stamped with the usual aplomb. And, naturally, it was deemed not a 'Project' subject to CEQA review, because what could possibly go wrong when 'organizational or administrative activity of government' is involved? It’s not like throwing money at amorphous social programs ever has indirect effects on the community or local economy, is it? Clearly, the only things that affect the environment are, say, building actual houses or drilling for oil – not the ever-expanding bloat of the administrative state.

While the Supervisors are busy patting themselves on the back for 'helping families,' one has to wonder if these 'services' are truly effective, or just another stop on the long, gravy train of government-funded compassion. Remember, folks, every dollar spent here is a dollar that could have stayed in your pocket, or perhaps gone towards actually fixing our crumbling roads. But hey, at least we're 'intensive' about something, even if it's just redistributing wealth under the guise of public good. The Supervisors agenda item provided plenty of details, if you like reading between the lines of bureaucratic doublespeak.