Published: June 01, 2009 09:41 am      

ISU budget cuts won’t stop programs here

DEWITT — Because Clinton County voters voted to tax themselves 131⁄2 cents per $1,000 of property valuation in 2006, an array of programs for youths and families will continue here, despite funding cuts at Iowa State University.

The university’s budget for next year was cut about $40 million, according to Clinton County Extension Agent Bill Petsche. The statewide extension program budget was trimmed by about $4.2 million.

But all of the money from the new local tax goes directly to the Clinton County Extension Council and pays for youth and family programs, such as ag activities and Master Garden programs.

In the city of Clinton, a full-time extension staff member, Andrea Ryan, was hired to do after-school programs, programs when the schools have early outs, 10 weeks of summer programming and other events for families in Clinton and Camanche.

“She has more than doubled the amount of contacts we have in the cities” since that election, Petsche said. “Also, we have close to 60 Master Gardeners in the county, with more than half of them being in Clinton. While a lot of them are at the Arboretum, they do projects around the city also. And last year I worked with the YWCA doing a series of financial workshops for women called ‘Women and Money.’”

“We capped attendance at 25 and had 25 just about every night,” he said. “Extension used to be very, very ag oriented, and it still has that component. But there are so many other things we do.”

Money from the 131⁄2 cent tax made it possible to hire an expanded staff, including Wendy Proctor, youth coordinator; Jackie Luckstead, youth specialist; Wendy Peterson, families; Kim Vining, program assistant; Jessica Lester, office assistant; Ashley Mollenbeck, extension assistant; Catherine Winchester, office assistant, and Ryan.

The tax also made it possible for the extension council to purchase new facilities in DeWitt to replace the aging and cramped headquarters across the street from the 4-H fairgrounds.

“We’ll be able to hold classes and workshops in the new headquarters, which has a bigger conference room, instead of hauling all our supplies” to rented facilities, he said.

That change came just in time to respond to a restructuring of the extension service on the state level.

Because of the budget cuts, state extension authorities will eliminate all county agents, such as Petsche, in the coming fiscal year. Instead, counties will be organized into regions, with one agent per region.

The Clinton County Extension Council recently urged Petsche to apply for the position of agent for the region that will include Clinton, Scott, Muscatine and Cedar counties, and he has done so.

The Clinton County Extension will continue to have access to field specialists such Virgil Schmitt, crops; Larry McMullen, swine; Greg Brenneman, ag engineering; Jim Jensen, farm management; Denise Schwab, beef; and Patrick O'Malley, horticulture.