County looking at Extension levy renewal

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With a .4-mill levy for the county’s Ohio State University Extension program coming up for renewal next year, the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners is seeking answers from Extension officials on just what the more than $200,000 a year generated by the levy is being used for.

Currently, the county Extension program includes three full-time positions: an agriculture/natural resources educator, a consumer science educator and 4-H program assistant. There are also two Extension positions related to economic development, but those positions are funded through the city’s hotel-motel tax, rather than the Extension levy. In addition to the levy, OSU Extension also pays a portion of the salaries of Extension employees, as well as all of their benefits.

From their standpoint, the commissioners feel the agricultural portion of the Extension program is underutilized today, compared to a generation ago.

Noting that the Extension agriculture program used to be farmers’ “first line of defense” when it came to getting information about various farm-related issues, Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger said that, today, farmers are typically getting that information from other sources.

“Most guys (farmers) can pull their cell phone out of their pocket and get that information,” said Lichtensteiger, a farmer himself. He added that, now, it’s often a farmer’s chemical or seed representative that provides the kind of crop-related information that used to come from OSU Extension.

Lichtensteiger said the commissioners advocate doing some kind of needs assessment related to the levy to see what Extension services are really needed by county residents. “We want to see whether Extension is really fulfilling the needs of their constituents,” he noted.

Commissioner Stan Owens, who is also a longtime farmer, agreed. “We want to see where the need was (and) where the money is being spent,” Owens said. “We’re just looking for accountability here.”

Cindy Torppa, the regional representative for OSU Extension, said she feels the agriculture/natural resources educator’s position still has plenty of relevance, and noted that current Van Wert County Ag/Natural Resources Educator Curtis Young’s expertise as an entomologist is exceedingly valuable – especially with emerald ash borers and other insect pests coming into the state.

Another concern of the commissioners is the vacant consumer science position, which has been unfilled since Carol Trice retired back in November 2013.

For their part, the commissioners prefer an Extension program where 4-H is given priority, noting that Heather Gottke, the county’s 4-H Extension representative, is a program assistant, a step lower on the organization chart than either the ag/natural resources or consumer science positions, which both require an Extension educator.

Although Gottke has had her master’s degree for approximately a year – a requirement to be an Extension educator – the commissioners note that nothing has been done to move that position up to where they feel it should be.

For their part, the commissioners prefer an Extension set-up that emphasizes 4-H – the area they feel has the most relevance for Van Wert County – which is similar to how things are set up in Mercer County. Although one of the biggest agriculture counties in the state, Mercer County currently has only a part-time ag/natural resources educator and a part-time consumer science educator, while the county’s 4-H slot is a full-time position.

The commissioners feel having a similar Extension set-up here could save the taxpayers money as well, with Commissioner Todd Wolfrum stating that the levy could possibly be cut back from four-tenths of a mill to maybe two-tenths of a mill.

At the very least, the commissioners would like a needs assessment done on the county Extension program to ensure that the services provided are what county residents really need.

“It’s taxpayer money, we’re making sure the money is being spent appropriately,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out ways to make it more practical for the taxpayer.”

As part of their research, the commissioners have asked Torppa for a breakdown of the county Extension program’s budget, as well as the duties of each position currently on the organizational chart.

Torppa, who has only been on the job for five weeks, said that information has been provided to the commissioners, while also adding she feels the local Extension program still provides lots of benefits to county residents.

In addition to Young’s expertise in entomology, Torppa said the consumer science position can have positive benefits related to a number of county programs, including the SNAP (food stamp) program. Torppa said having an Extension consumer science educator also allows a county to receive a SNAP nutritional representative without additional cost to provide training for food stamp recipients in how best to utilize the money they’re receiving from the SNAP program. Doing so also decreases the amount of money paid out for the Extension’s consumer science position by 10 percent.

Unfortunately, the consumer science position has been unfilled for eight months, while the commissioners said they were unaware of the SNAP benefit.

Torppa said she plans to provide more details of that and similar programs when she returns to the county for more discussion related to the levy.

Meanwhile, more discussion is likely coming between the commissioners and Extension representatives on how best to use the money generated to fulfill the needs of county residents.