Midway through a packed agenda on Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors have a hearing scheduled to consider an increase in laboratory testing fees.

The county’s laboratory testing fees have not increased since 1988, according to a staff report presented to the supervisors.

Some of the tests, such as drug susceptibility with a mycobacteria growth indicator tube, would increase from $11.25 to $226; a rabies test is $35 but would be $192; and a hepatitis B surface antigen-confirmatory would increase from $7 to $218.

However, tests for sexually transmitted diseases would remain relatively constant other than an HIV confirmation test, which would increase by 80 percent.

The county public health laboratory mostly serves public health clinics countywide and spent the majority of labor on tests for sexually transmitted diseases, the report stated.

The increase in fees could add $150,000 to the public health laboratory and, according to the staff report, $425,000 to the county’s general fund.

The board also will consider the payment methods of a supplemental health benefit for retired county employees and an appeal against a sand and gravel mining project in Cuyama.

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Staff will present a report on the county’s distribution of public information during the recent Gap Fire, which burned for most of July in the mountains and canyons above Goleta.

The Board of Supervisors meets at

9 a.m. in the hearing room on the fourth floor of the county Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu St.

The public can address the board in person or by using the remote audio and video equipment at the Betteravia Government Center at 511 East Lakeside Parkway in Santa Maria. For more information, visit www.countyofsb.org.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or swomack@santamariatimes.com.

September 14, 2008