Santa Barbara County kicked off its final round of budget hearings on June 16 with a unanimous vote approving recommendations from Public Health Director Mouhanad Hammami to cut millions of dollars from his department.
A structural deficit has plagued Public Health’s savings, but changes to federal and state policies regarding who qualifies for Medi-Cal “added insult to injury,” Hammami said at the hearing.
“Whenever you’re faced with that, then you look at some of your operations where you can provide alternatives,” Hammami explained. “Some of our costly operations that are too costly to offer—and there are other alternatives that might be more affordable—and this is where you start looking at areas to balance the budget.”
Public Health patients will experience three main changes scheduled to take effect on July 1 that’ll save about $9.2 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year, according to the board letter.
The big-ticket item is consolidating three pharmacies into one, saving $8.46 million in the upcoming fiscal year and eliminating the positions of three pharmacists and six pharmacy technicians. Seven of the nine positions are currently filled.
Lompoc’s pharmacy will remain open, but the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara locations will close. Roughly 1,942 patients will be affected annually in Santa Maria, and they were notified in May.
Patients in Santa Maria and Goleta may instead select Walgreens, a contracted provider. The Walgreens on South Broadway in Santa Maria offers 24-hour service. There’s another location on North Broadway.
Leo Decasaus, representing SEIU Local 620, understands the department is in a deficit but said shifting care outward doesn’t eliminate patients’ needs.
“The impact of these reductions is real and immediate,” Decasaus said. “The county’s proposing to rely on outside providers including Walgreens, a non-union, for-profit corporation.”
Secondly, phlebotomy services will no longer be offered at the community health centers in Santa Maria and Lompoc. Providers will refer patients to the department’s contracted labs like Quest Diagnostics and Pacific Diagnostic Laboratories for blood draws. The change is expected to save $533,000 in the upcoming fiscal year and eliminate 4.5 full-time equivalent positions, of which 3.5 are filled. It’ll impact approximately 4,486 patients annually in Lompoc and 3,220 in Santa Maria.
Partner lab facilities are located within 2 miles of the two impacted sites with reliable, consistent schedules and later hours, Hammami said. Reduced rates on a sliding scale are still available.
The third chunk of cuts take away certain specialty services at the Santa Barbara clinic including nephrology, urology, neurology, and gastroenterology. The services aren’t offered at any other county centers.
Public Health will refer patients to external specialists that are in CenCal’s network. This change will impact roughly 792 patients per year. The total savings is $231,000.
Hammami said that throughout the unfortunate decision-making process, the department is trying its best to support staff who are impacted by the cuts.
“We are collaborating with County HR. Affected employees have been supported through job fairs, counseling, and transition sources,” Hammami said.
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino requested a future report from the Public Health Department to make sure nobody “falls through the cracks” when trying to access care.
“This board is not taking any of this lightly,” 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson added. “These are hard decisions. These are efficiency measures that need to take place for us to have a balanced budget, which we’re obligated to do.”
To support community members, the Public Health Department created a 24-hour line to provide information about what services are available and to respond to residents’ complaints. The phone number is (805) 681-5100.
This article appears in June 18 – June 25, 2026.
