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Hibberd: Purdue extension is stretched, but not broken

By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Despite an unexpected budget cut in December, Indiana’s extension system is strong, its director said last week.

In order to balance the state budget, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced cuts in funding to higher education in December 2009, including to the Purdue University extension program. The cuts meant extension would receive $1 million less than officials were told on July 1, said Chuck Hibberd, director of the extension service.

Extension officials were able to make changes without losing personnel, he said. “The health of extension is quite good and we don’t think clientele will notice a change,” he said. “We’ve tried to manage our salary budget without giving anything away.”

New hires will have less experience than in previous years, he said.
“We are hiring at entry level wages. In the past, we paid a salary requisite to their qualifications,” he explained. “Now we’re strictly at entry level, which means people with little or no experience, people with a new master’s degree. It will mean we’ll need to do more training and orientation, but these people are bright, energetic and proud to be a part of the extension program.”

This change in hiring practices allowed extension officials to accommodate two-thirds of their budget reduction, Hibberd explained, adding they’ve been able to fill all open positions. Normally, the system has 15-20 positions a year to fill.
While officials were able to make needed cuts without affecting service to the public, any future budget cutbacks might be a different matter, he cautioned.

“We have been given no indication there won’t be any more cuts,” he said. “If there are more, that possibly would affect personnel. We could be in trouble.”

The state has about 270 extension educators, similar numbers to 20 years ago, Hibberd said. Funding for extension comes from state, federal and county sources. The current budget is more than $40 million, he said.

Officials have been able to save in other ways as well. For example, conferences or events that may have been done over two to three days in the past have been reduced to overnight or one day.
“Anything we would consider discretionary has been stopped or postponed,” he said. “We’re trying to use the taxpayers’ money very effectively. We’re making extension as lean and mean as possible.”

In looking at what to cut, extension officials were careful not to eliminate beneficial programs, he said: “We have programs on managing finances, on entrepreneurship, on how to help stimulate the economy or start a business, such as marketing fresh fruits and vegetables. To cut programs like that would be cutting part of the solution.”

Extension officials are focusing their energies on the most important issues for Hoosiers, such as quickly providing information on last year’s late corn harvest and potential mold problems, Hibberd said.

“Purdue extension is more valuable than ever. We’re not going to cry in our beer. We’re focused on moving forward,” he added.

County funding affected

Cuts at the county level are affecting individual extension offices, Hibberd said. “County budgets are under fire. Elected officials are doing everything they can to hold it together. I expect there will be additional budget challenges in 2011.”

In Whitley County, the county has contracted for only two extension educators, rather than three, requiring some shuffling of duties, said Cindy Barnett, county director. In addition to her director duties, Barnett is half consumer and family sciences educator and half youth. David Addison is half youth educator and half agriculture and natural resources.

“It’s been a learning experience for us,” she said. “Several programs will be affected. For example, Dave can’t do as much with 4-H as he used to.”

The county will also be losing a learning services program that offered classes, including in computers, she said. County staff will be looking at cost recovery whenever possible.

“We’ve always presented, when we could, free programs,” Barnett said. “Now we may have to charge whatever it costs us to present the program. We may have to start charging groups for mileage costs if we travel to an event.”

Each department in Huntington County’s government has been asked to cut its budget by 7 percent, said Linda Aldridge, county director. Residents of the county aren’t making enough income to generate sufficient tax revenue, she said.

“We’ve had a decrease in part-time staff and a decrease in the budget for office supplies, postage and travel. We’re looking at anyplace we can save a few dollars. We have to pay attention to our expenses and live within our budget,” she said.

“We used to mail 4-H forms, but now we’re asking them to go through 4-H leaders. We’re also looking at using e-mail to send the forms. We’re exploring all kinds of options.”

Aldridge is also looking into the feasibility of charging for programs that used to be free, or charging a fee to recover mileage costs and other expenses.

In LaGrange County, where the unemployment rate has been in double digits, there were significant cuts in county funding last year, said John Emerson, county director.

“Purdue extension wants to be a part of the solution as far as cost containment is concerned,” he said. “All the counties are boxed in. The county may ask for another cut from what they’ve already done. There’s only so many staples and paper clips you can save.”
In the past, the county’s 4-H program has been generously supported by the community, but more recently, sponsorships and other contributions are down, he said.

“Many in the community are tapped out or they’re gone. Businesses that used to help are just no longer here,” he said.
The office is trying to get away from using paper as much as possible, he said. For example, the 60-70 page 4-H handbook is now distributed on compact disc rather than paper.

“Most of the people understand what’s going on. I like working with the people of this community. They’re problem solvers. They will make do with what they have,” he added.

County offices are important to the extension system, Hibberd said. “I believe in county-based extension programs, and we’ll do everything that we can to maintain a strong county presence.
“Our budget issues are serious and we have to pay attention to them. We’re blessed to live in a state like Indiana, which is in good shape, as compared to many. Extension in Indiana is very strong and there’s a lot of loyalty out there.”

4/7/2010