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UW-Extension Forms Work Groups To Address Budget Cuts

Officials Plan To Examine Programs, Administrative Costs, County Resources

By
Ray Cross (CC-BY-SA)

Next week, the University of Wisconsin-Extension will start planning to absorb $3.6 million in budget cuts to the agency’s county and university educational services.

UW-Extension Vice Chancellor and Provost Aaron Brower said work groups will be created to examine program areas such as agriculture and community development. In addition, teams will look at administrative costs and how county resources will be organized in the face of a projected loss of 80 positions.

“Approximately half of those are currently open positions,” said Brower. “The least strategic thing to do would just be to not hire to fill those positions, but that is a tool that we can use if we need to.”

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UW-Extension officials will tour the state this summer to meet with staff and county representatives about the shift to multi-county service areas. Work groups will spend the next six to eight months developing recommendations. Brower acknowledged challenges regarding the agency’s contracts with counties. Counties budget on a calendar year while universities set budgets every fiscal year.

“We’re asking counties to hang with us,” said Brower. “We’re committing to a steady state budget through 2017.”

Bayfield County UW-Extension community development educator Tim Kane said counties typically provide 40 percent of an extension educator’s salary and benefits with the state chipping in the remaining funds.

“Each county is going to have to decide what are our priorities as far as our cooperative extension office and what services do they want from cooperative extension going forward and what’s it going to cost them,” said Kane.

Some counties have expressed concerns over the difficulties with absorbing the cost of funding positions that may be cut as a result of the budget. Kane said each county has different priorities for the services they’d like to see maintained.

Brower said administrators will tour the state to meet with county officials and extension staff. Final plans aren’t expected to be released until early next year.

Editor’s note: Wisconsin Public Public Radio is also a service of UW-Extension.