As June–the month of financial reckoning for Santa Barbara County-funded programs and services—draws closer, many organizations have already started pleading their cases to the Board of Supervisors and the public at large to save their programs from the chopping block.
Faced with an increasing deficit, the county has steadily cut funding to a multitude of programs. In recent years, the Board of Supervisors’ annual budget hearings have resembled a production of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line, with each group doing its own “don’t cut me” song and dance—and then anxiously waiting to see who made it on the “funded” cast list.
One of those organizations is the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau.
On May 21, Farm Bureau President Paul Van Leer sent a letter to local media arguing why the county should continue to fund the University of California Cooperative Extension and Santa Barbara County 4-H. The asking price: $153,000 for fiscal year 2013-14.
The county has been cutting the budget of these two programs for the last 10 years, from a high of $287,634.
“Every year, we have to beg and plead to be saved from the chopping block,” Van Leer said, adding that his goal is to get the programs funded long term.
He said the impact the Cooperative Extension and 4-H have on the county is undeniable. Most people have an understanding of what 4-H does for young people (Van Leer said, “It teaches them to become good public speakers and leaders”); what’s not as clear is the role the Cooperative Extension plays in the local community.
“So much of what the UC does is behind the scenes—it’s way more far reaching than people realize,” he said.
According to the letter from the Farm Bureau, the Cooperative Extension has been part of the county’s agricultural community since 1927. Program staffers research ways to address issues affecting agriculture, such as crop pests and diseases, and help local farmers implement best-practice solutions in their fields. They also do crop cost analysis for the county, research fire suppression and prevention methods for local fire departments, and run water-quality educational programs at county schools.
And then there’s the financial impact: “The ag industry is the largest industry in the county, and the UC helps our farmers be competitive in a global market,” Van Leer said.
The Farm Bureau also reports that in 2011-12, the $153,000 from the county leveraged more than $936,000 worth of financial support from the state and federal governments.
The programs need money from the county, he said, because they can’t be privately funded. Under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the Cooperative Extension and its various components are a partnership among the U.S. Department of Agriculture, designated universities, and local governments.
“The bottom line is the UC can’t go any lower [than $153,000]. But for what we’re asking, the county gets a pretty good return on its investment,” Van Leer said.
He said he’d like to discuss with the county the possibility of spreading the cost of the Cooperative Extension among multiple departments, not just the office of the county ag commissioner. He’s also open to exploring the possibility of acquiring grants from nonprofit agencies.
Van Leer and fellow Cooperative Extension supporters could face some opposition from 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam.
In an interview with the Sun, Adam said he’d “like to see the UC stop using the 4-H kids as human shields” by sending them in to the Board of Supervisors to ask for money.
He said he’s a big supporter of 4-H, but feels that commercial agriculture doesn’t need the Cooperative Extension.
“Commercial ag should pay its own way,”
he said. “I’m a farmer. I farm on 1,800 acres, and I’m not aware of the benefit I’m getting out of it.”
He also said the Smith-Lever Act doesn’t specify funding should come from the county, and he expressed frustration over what he called the Cooperative Extension’s lack of budgetary transparency.
Van Leer said he understood where Adam was coming from, but said the Cooperative Extension, by nature, is designed to help smaller farms that can’t afford their own pest control consultants, and that the “bigger guys” can still benefit from the program’s research.
Adam said the government can no longer afford to fund “pet projects” like the Cooperative Extension. Farmers, he said, “either have the wherewithal to make it in the industry or not,” and shouldn’t rely on government-funded programs for help.
Not all of the supervisors share Adam’s point of view, however. Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr said she has always been supportive of the Cooperative Extension and 4-H.
She admitted that there are going to be a lot of tough choices for the supervisors this year because many other departments, including the fire and sheriff’s departments, will be coming before the board to argue against making cuts to their budgets.
“We’re not looking at as big of a deficit this year, but on the other hand, it’s all cumulative,” she said.
When asked if she’d consider spreading the cost of the Cooperative Extension program among departments, Farr said, “Well, the ag commissioner is the single best person to oversee it.”
She mentioned the possibility of having the county executive officer look into keeping the program in the ag commissioner’s budget, similar to what’s been done to keep HIV/AIDS testing and other essential services in the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s budget.
Farr said she’s heard from many residents in her district who are in favor of funding the program.
“It says a lot to me when so many people are willing to take the time to call, write, or come down [to their supervisor’s office] to advocate for something they believe in,” she said.
Come June, the Cooperative Extension will need three of the five supervisors on its side to stay afloat.
Richard Enfield, director of the UC Cooperative Extension for SLO and Santa Barbara counties, couldn’t be reached as of press time. m
Contact Managing Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 6, 2013.