Solvang officials submit to new financial reporting after phone app backlash

A months-long controversy over a tourism phone app created by Solvang's own mayor has forced the Santa Barbara County city to overhaul how its elected officials report their financial interests — and raised pointed questions about transparency that resonate across the 805 region.

What Changed, and Why It Matters

The Solvang City Council voted 4-1 on June 8 to amend its ethics code, establishing new, mandatory financial-disclosure rules for all sitting council members, as first reported by the Santa Maria Sun. Under the revised code, the city manager is now required to periodically prepare staff reports compiling each council member's financial interests and Form 700 filings — the state-mandated disclosure documents that California public officials must file with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). Council members must also self-report any new financial interest to the city manager within 30 days of acquiring it, and those new interests will then be shared with the full council on a quarterly basis.

The trigger for all of it: Solvang Passport, a mobile phone app created and owned by Mayor David Brown that promotes select tourism destinations and businesses in the Danish-themed town for a monthly subscription fee — a private, for-profit side venture run by the city's top elected official.

How the Controversy Unfolded

Brown notified City Attorney Chelsea O'Sullivan and City Manager Randy Murphy about Solvang Passport in late 2025, seeking advice on potential conflicts of interest. But under the city's existing municipal code, staff had no obligation to relay that disclosure to the rest of the council — and they didn't. The Santa Maria Sun reported that Murphy acknowledged, "I didn't say anything because there was nothing in the code that says, 'Hey, you all should know or have an opportunity to weigh in on it.'" Murphy and O'Sullivan reviewed the app through the narrower lens of state conflict-of-interest rules, rather than how the council or the public might perceive it.

The app came to public light on Feb. 23, when the owner of the Solvang Skate Shop, Robert Hargreaves, addressed the council during open public comment — saying he'd learned about the app earlier that same day. Councilmember Louise Smith later said she felt "blindsided" upon learning about the app in March, and council members directed staff to investigate potential conflict-of-interest concerns at a March 9 meeting.

Further complicating matters, Councilmember Elizabeth Orona alleged that the city's tourism website "was scraped to create a separate private entity app" and that city-funded text remains on the app. Brown denied the app used city assets. At a March 23 meeting, O'Sullivan reported that an audit of the app did find at least one segment from a city-produced source, though the full scope of that finding was not detailed in public records reviewed for this story.

The app is designed so that businesses pay $249 per month to be featured, though Brown has said participation has so far been free. Visitors can earn points and redeem rewards at participating locations, including perks like a free ice cream cone at the Solvang Trolley Ice Cream Parlor — a business owned by the family of Councilmember Claudia Orona.

The Vote and Its Dissenters

The council's April 27 session saw staff pitch a single-sentence addition to the ethics code requiring council members to "promptly notify staff and the City Council of any new material financial interests." But council members said the language was too vague, and sent staff back to refine the proposal. The June 8 amendment reflects that more specific, 30-day timeline approach.

Brown was the lone vote against the measure. "I'm not seeing how putting it in front of everybody every six months improves the situation," he said at the meeting, adding that he felt the new self-reporting requirement was redundant with rules already in place under the FPPC. O'Sullivan acknowledged the overlap — noting that Form 700s are already public documents anyone can look up — but said the new policy was "more about affirmatively getting the information in front of the council" at a more frequent pace.

Claudia Orona, whose family's ice cream business is listed on the Passport app, voted yes — but with hesitation. "I hope I don't regret this," she said before casting her vote. She warned that while she supported the intent, the new powers could someday be misused: "I could see how this could get abused to just target or bully a colleague, just because we don't like them or we don't like their opinions."

The Santa Barbara News-Press reported that the June 8 amendments also gave council members the ability to censure one another — a significant new internal accountability tool — and included a provision that violations of state or federal law be referred to the appropriate enforcement agency, per the Santa Maria Times.

Tourism Money and Political Stakes

The stakes in Solvang are unusually high when any tourism-related policy is in play. About 84% of Solvang's annual tax revenue — more than $9 million — comes from hotel occupancy and sales taxes, and the city is proposing to spend $1.1 million on visitor-focused marketing and activities in its fiscal year 2026-27 budget. That makes any private venture that intersects with official tourism promotion an inherently sensitive matter for local governance.

After the vote, Brown signaled he may restructure his involvement in Solvang Passport — potentially licensing the app to another entity and possibly expanding the model to other tourist destinations, such as Pismo Beach or the Funk Zone in Santa Barbara. Brown's mayoral term runs through December 2026, according to the City of Solvang's website.

What Comes Next

The amended ethics code is now in effect, requiring the city manager to begin compiling and presenting council members' financial disclosures on a regular schedule. For residents across the 805, the Solvang case offers a concrete illustration of how gaps in local transparency rules can let politically sensitive business arrangements develop in plain sight — and how community pressure, starting with a single public comment at a February council meeting, can drive policy change.

Anyone wishing to review Solvang council members' existing Form 700 filings can do so through the FPPC's public financial disclosure portal, which allows free online searches of financial interests disclosed by elected officials statewide.