A proposed $300 million budget cut for the state university system could mean the loss of at least one extension agent in each county, including Shawano, if the cut is equally distributed.
“It’s a little hard to tell right now exactly how things will shake out,” said Joe Stellato, 4-H youth development agent in the Shawano County University of Wisconsin-Extension office. “But if the full budget cut were to go through as proposed — and it depends on how it’s divvied up, it works out to an average of one extension agent per county, or close to that.”
The decision of which agent would go would likely be based on several factors, he said.
“It would be prioritized based on county needs, probably total population, and counties would have a lot of input in that decision, too,” Stellato said.
The county pays for the UW-Extension office and all expenses, including support staff, equipment and travel, and 40 percent of each agent’s salary and benefits.
The cuts being proposed by Gov. Scott Walker would affect the 60 percent of agent salaries paid by the state.
“Let’s say the state came along and said, ‘we have to cut one position in each county,” Stellato said. “The county would have the option to maintain that if they want to fully fund the position, but counties are taking budget cuts as well so that would probably be very difficult.”
Programs offered by the extension system vary by county. The Shawano County office has four agents, which include 4-H, community resource development, family living and agriculture.
Stellato said the loss of any one would impact more than the area covered by that agent because many of the programs are interrelated.
“We all work together, so it really messes up the program,” he said.
According to the Shawano County office’s mission statement, the goal of the office “is to deliver University resources and research data to educate county residents and apply problem-solving assistance on issues relating to agriculture, family living, youth development, community development, economic development and natural resources.”
Jay Moynihan, community resource development agent with the Shawano County office, said the impact the cuts might have in Shawano County is still speculative.
“How the cuts would be allocated and how much would be the extension’s share is not really terribly clear at this point in time,” he said. “If it would go through and if it would be evenly distributed, which I’m not saying it would be, it’s about 80 to 90 county educators.”
Moynihan noted there are also cuts proposed in other programs that interact with the UW-Extension, including the DNR and programs promoting recycling and alternative fuels.
“What they do is specifically mentioned in the budget for very large cuts,” he said.
“The whole ‘cut’ thing is in itself interesting,” Moynihan said. “We’re so integrated in a lot of stuff going on in the communities, especially the rural communities, that it seems not to be a logical thing to do to cut the university system when many states and the rest of the world as a whole is actually going in the opposite direction in funding.”
