Extension budget passes committee
NORWICH – Next year’s proposed budget for agriculture and livestock programs in 2008 passed through a county committee last week despite opposition from the supervisor from Pharsalia.
The budget for Cornell Cooperative Extension asks for approximately $10,000 to afford a grant writer who was employed by the agency two years ago. The Extension was awarded the same amount last year to fund the position, but the amount came from the county’s set-aside pool of economic development funds.
“I was told they didn’t want to see me back for that this year,” Executive Director Keith Severson told members of the committee last Tuesday.
Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, asked for specific numbers as proof that the fund developer’s work was benefiting the farming industry.
“I see this leading into social programs that others (departments) already cover,” he said. “When does it end? We went back to our roots - agriculture and 4-H - now we are going into schools? It looks like we are headed in that direction, back to those days that anything that sounds like a good cause, we are going to chase it around and throw money at it.”
Brown was referring to Severson’s plans to “reach forward into more and more school-based programs” in 2008. Severson said the Extension plans to teach life skills, agriculture and the benefits of value-added food production and consumption in Chenango County.
The town supervisors from Coventry and Preston backed the department’s budget request. “To me this is very, very important to a county like Chenango County. Sharing ideas with outreach, volunteer organizations for the betterment of everybody’s lives,” Janice O’Shea, R-Coventry, said. “You can’t put a dollar value on how these programs benefit the community.”
Preston’s Peter C. Flanagan said though he isn’t a fan of the government’s involvement in economic development, the farming-based programs were “one of the better things we do with our economic development dollars.”
Flanagan also pointed to Cornell’s dollar for dollar grant-matching promise. “It’s easy to identify with this program, unlike others, that we are doubling our money and probably providing someone with a job. We know what’s being done with it. And it’s an organization open to all.”
Severson said the grant writer has written 22 grants from January through August, totaling $269,000. Eleven of the grants for a total $137,330 has been awarded. Much of the funding was used for building repairs and handicapped accessible upgrades made this year at the Extension’s 99 N. Broad St. headquarters.
Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said while he commended the department for “turning around” since 2002, he was “worried” about contributing $10,000 per year from the levy. He asked Severson to consider funding sources that might be available via the county’s Social Services department.
In response to Brown’s repeated questions for quantifying with numbers the department’s success, Flanagan said, “I’ve been asking for five years for a report on how all of our economic development dollars have been spent and I haven’t seen one yet.”
Some of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s local partners in 2007 were: Chenango Health Network, Chenango Memorial Hospital, the Place and the Chenango United Way.
Other budgets passed along the committee system Tuesday, and showing no increase, were Public Health’s Rabies Control, the Soil & Water Conservation District, Central Services and Buildings & Grounds.
Revenues are down about $3,500 for the year at the county’s Gaius Cook Park in Greene. Wilcox asked Buildings and Grounds interim Superintendent Brian Aikins to increase the estimated revenues for 2008 from $16,000 to $18,000 in order to make the projected budget more palatable for taxpayers. Revenues were $19,831 in 2006 and $16,363 so far for after the past camping season.
Flanagan, who voted against the proposed budget, said he would “just as soon let people wander around down there on their own. Get rid of it.”
“I hate to keep plugging away at this, but we are subsidizing people’s vacations with taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Although Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee Chairman Robert D. Briggs, R-Afton, said the camp couldn’t be given away, Flanagan said he didn’t know why not.
“Why not give it to New York State?” he asked.
The budget for Cornell Cooperative Extension asks for approximately $10,000 to afford a grant writer who was employed by the agency two years ago. The Extension was awarded the same amount last year to fund the position, but the amount came from the county’s set-aside pool of economic development funds.
“I was told they didn’t want to see me back for that this year,” Executive Director Keith Severson told members of the committee last Tuesday.
Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, asked for specific numbers as proof that the fund developer’s work was benefiting the farming industry.
“I see this leading into social programs that others (departments) already cover,” he said. “When does it end? We went back to our roots - agriculture and 4-H - now we are going into schools? It looks like we are headed in that direction, back to those days that anything that sounds like a good cause, we are going to chase it around and throw money at it.”
Brown was referring to Severson’s plans to “reach forward into more and more school-based programs” in 2008. Severson said the Extension plans to teach life skills, agriculture and the benefits of value-added food production and consumption in Chenango County.
The town supervisors from Coventry and Preston backed the department’s budget request. “To me this is very, very important to a county like Chenango County. Sharing ideas with outreach, volunteer organizations for the betterment of everybody’s lives,” Janice O’Shea, R-Coventry, said. “You can’t put a dollar value on how these programs benefit the community.”
Preston’s Peter C. Flanagan said though he isn’t a fan of the government’s involvement in economic development, the farming-based programs were “one of the better things we do with our economic development dollars.”
Flanagan also pointed to Cornell’s dollar for dollar grant-matching promise. “It’s easy to identify with this program, unlike others, that we are doubling our money and probably providing someone with a job. We know what’s being done with it. And it’s an organization open to all.”
Severson said the grant writer has written 22 grants from January through August, totaling $269,000. Eleven of the grants for a total $137,330 has been awarded. Much of the funding was used for building repairs and handicapped accessible upgrades made this year at the Extension’s 99 N. Broad St. headquarters.
Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said while he commended the department for “turning around” since 2002, he was “worried” about contributing $10,000 per year from the levy. He asked Severson to consider funding sources that might be available via the county’s Social Services department.
In response to Brown’s repeated questions for quantifying with numbers the department’s success, Flanagan said, “I’ve been asking for five years for a report on how all of our economic development dollars have been spent and I haven’t seen one yet.”
Some of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s local partners in 2007 were: Chenango Health Network, Chenango Memorial Hospital, the Place and the Chenango United Way.
Other budgets passed along the committee system Tuesday, and showing no increase, were Public Health’s Rabies Control, the Soil & Water Conservation District, Central Services and Buildings & Grounds.
Revenues are down about $3,500 for the year at the county’s Gaius Cook Park in Greene. Wilcox asked Buildings and Grounds interim Superintendent Brian Aikins to increase the estimated revenues for 2008 from $16,000 to $18,000 in order to make the projected budget more palatable for taxpayers. Revenues were $19,831 in 2006 and $16,363 so far for after the past camping season.
Flanagan, who voted against the proposed budget, said he would “just as soon let people wander around down there on their own. Get rid of it.”
“I hate to keep plugging away at this, but we are subsidizing people’s vacations with taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Although Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee Chairman Robert D. Briggs, R-Afton, said the camp couldn’t be given away, Flanagan said he didn’t know why not.
“Why not give it to New York State?” he asked.
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