By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Bowing to pressure from bipartisan state legislators, advocacy groups, agriculture organizations, 4-H members and the public, the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced it would restore some $40 million withheld from the 2008 budgets of the University of Illinois extension, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR) and other ag-related organizations.
On May 2, UoI Extension received a “memorandum of agreement” from the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) for approximately $18 million in withheld fiscal year 2008 funding.
“Since the receipt of the memorandum of agreement, they have been under internal review and the signature process is underway at the university level,” said Dennis Campion, extension director, in a university news release.
“After all the university signatures are in place, the agreements will be returned to IDOA for signature and processing, so it may still take one or two weeks before payments arrive.”
Extension had been operating at a deficit and would have faced massive layoffs and program reductions had funding not been restored.
One question that does remain is the fate of extension’s 4-H youth development program, which was awarded a sum of $33,900.
“At this time, this is the only amount that we have for this purpose. We continue to seek clarification regarding the intentions of the legislature regarding these funds,” said Campion.
Bills in the Illinois House (HB 4228) and Senate (SB 1921) could fully reinstate 4-H youth development funding, according to the extension news release.
On May 9, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Comptroller’s office told news sources they had received payment vouchers from the IDOA, and the money went “out the door” to extension that day.
Other groups facing huge cuts in funding included the Fertilizer Research and Education Council and AgriAbility Unlimited, a nonprofit group that lends “a hand up” to disabled farmers.
“I think an appropriate response would be to say that AgriAbility Unlimited is extremely pleased and thrilled that our funds are restored,” said the organization’s Jim Williams.
“Primary volunteer efforts have enabled us to exist, but now we can get back to more fully serving farm families with disability issues.”
Though funding appears to have been restored to extension, some announced layoffs and cuts will not yet be rescinded, according to Campion.
“While there are good intentions, we have heard a variety of budgeted amounts for County Board Match, Cook County Initiative and youth development funding. With this amount of uncertainty in the system, we continue to review plans to protect the overall financial health of our organization,” Campion stated.
“Until a more thorough organizational outlook is undertaken, existing terminal contracts and layoff notices will not be rescinded at this time.”