Remarks by Bob Nelson
492 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 7 of 20
“all right um with that any public comment on this item madam clerk chair nelson and members of the board we have no request to speak from the public on this item all right um any further discussion of the board see none can i get a motion i will move staff recommendation okay second in the second by hartman any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes unanimously thank you And this brings us to our last administrative item. And I believe that's item A27.”
“All right, this item is pulled by Supervisor Capps. Would the speaker like to go to public comment first?”
“EXCELLENT. SHOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE SOME, DO YOU WANT STAFF TO ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT WHAT THE PLANS ARE FIRST?”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“All right. Thank you, Supervisor Capps. Supervisor Hartman.”
“All right. All right. Thank you. Let's go to members of the public who've also pulled this item. Madam Clerk.”
“Okay, thank you both. With that, we've done public comment on this item. We've had discussion. Can I get a motion on this item from the board?”
“All right. I'll second. Okay, motion from Capps, second from Hartman. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right, that concludes our administrative agenda. We're going to go into general public comment, and then after that, we'll take a small break before we start departmental items.”
“Okay, so with no general public comment, we'll go ahead and take a five-minute break, and then we'll come back to begin our de-agenda. All right, welcome back to the July 7th, 2026 regular scheduled meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. We've completed our administrative agenda in public comment and we'll be getting our departmental agenda at this time. Madam Clerk, will you please read departmental item number one into the record?”
“All right. Thank you. And we'll kick it off with Seth.”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Right back to the board. I guess you answered all our questions. I'll just say for the record, you know, I'm not a big proponent of increased fees or taxes, but I am always supportive of this one. It's an investment, really, is what it is. And your department does a really good job making sure that each one of these dollars that are coming off our tax bills go directly into projects. And I think people appreciate that. I think this is one of those that I could actually support in the future. You guys went out for some additional benefit assessment to the public because I think it is really…”
“All right, thank you. Supervisor Labanino, a motion there? Second. Second from Supervisor Hartman. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Great job. All right, Madam Clerk, we will now move on to Departmental Item number two. Will you please read that item to the record?”
“All right, questions from the board? Supervisor Hartman?”
“All right. Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. I just have a few questions. In the presentation, you talked about these funds coming from the investor-owned utilities. But those funds are really coming from rate payers, right? I mean, it's kind of a misnomer. It's like basically saying Harry Hagan funds the county, right, to say the investor-owner utilities do. So I think in presentations, I think it's really important to reflect the accuracy of that. So I just wanna make sure that that in the future is more reflected and it might be also good for us in some of these presentations to know how much…”
“Okay, it shouldn't be. I mean, it's right there. I looked at it on my bill, and I see the public purpose tax there, and there's also the franchise fee tax. And so all those are there, and obviously they're able to collect the franchise fee tax, and they pay out to the jurisdictions. So It shouldn't be. So send the email, CC me on it, and then we'll follow up and make sure we get that number. It shouldn't be a hidden or a secret by any means.”
“So that was my, I think that was my main point here on this. Any other questions from the board? Oh, Supervisor Capps.”
“Thank you. I remember my other question. So just trying to understand the function of this public purpose tax that's on our bills. Does when we do an investment plan that we send to the PUC, does that impact that rate on a local level or is that just pulling from a pool out there so when the puc assesses that public purpose are they doing that in a regional way or are they doing that just straight across throughout the state of california a flat rate so because what i want to also understand is if if we ask for more money does that mean that that basically just goes on our locals bills or are…”
“And we're doing that through a fee that's on their bill, right? It's not coming out of the profits of the investor-owned utility, right? It's coming out of the fee.”
“So answer my question the public purpose programming charge is just a percentage. It's not a programmatic cost. Correct. Okay. Great. Thank you. That clarifies it for me. Did I ask Madam Clerk whether we had any public comment on this item? I think I asked. Maybe I didn't.”
“All right. Thank you. Any further questions from the board? All right. Seeing none, I think this is receiving a file. I'll go ahead and take a motion from one of my colleagues.”
“Okay, a motion from Hartman for staff recommendation and a second from Supervisor Capps. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right, moving right along. Some of the same players, I think, or at least we have some guests here. Madam Clerk, will you please read department item number three into the record?”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“All right. Questions from the board? Supervisor Hartman.”
“All right, thank you. Supervisor Hartman, Supervisor Lee.”