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Federal dredging funds for Santa Barbara Harbor removed from FY26 budget; city urges reinstatement
Summary
The Army Corps’ usual FY26 dredging allocation for Santa Barbara was removed from the President’s Corps budget, waterfront director Mike Wilshire said; staff described operational, safety and coastal-erosion risks and said the city will lobby for reinstatement while conserving the remaining FY25 funds.
Santa Barbara’s waterfront director told the Harbor Commission that the Army Corps of Engineers’ FY26 budget omitted the harbor’s usual maintenance-dredging allocation, prompting an immediate lobbying effort to restore funding and a plan to use remaining FY25 resources strategically.
Mike Wilshire said the federal funding historically covered roughly $3 million to $4 million annually to maintain the federal navigation channel and to manage sediment that would otherwise accumulate. “We have been notified that our FY26 funding for Santa Barbara was removed,” Wilshire said. He added the loss was “a huge shock” because federal…
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