Final Invoice Was Over Twice The Estimate Provided

Santa Barbara County Supervisors were hit with a final invoice for the repair of one of the Sheriff's department's five helicopters that was more than double the estimate they had been provided by the company doing the work ... and the members of the board are none too happy about the situation.

The final invoice was $320,000, while the estimate had been $143,000, according to a report appearing in the Santa Barbara Independent. And while the money to pay the tab is there, it will take most of helicopter repair fund that was allocated by the county commission with 10 months left in the fiscal year.

When the commission hit SBSD's chief fiscal officer Douglas Martin with a barrage of questions at a meeting Tuesday night, Sheriff Bill Brown defended his employee. Brown told the panel that maintaining helicopters is expensive, and that they provide essential services in times of fire or for emergency rescue operations.

Brown, who is facing a challenger in his re-election bid next year, also defended the size of the helicopter fleet. One is a twin-engine helo that can fly missions over the Santa Barbara Channel, he said, while two are needed for regular SAR and firefighting missions. The other two are backups, flown mainly when the front-line aircraft are down for things line 100 hour inspections.

When Supervisor Peter Adam, who is supporting Brown's opponent in the upcoming election, asked about how many rescues the aircraft had actually accomplished, he was told by Supervisor Salud Carbajal, who held the gavel for the meeting, that deployment of the aircraft should be left for a later ... and longer ... discussion.

FMI: www.countyofsb.org/bos/default.aspx?id=404?