A proposal by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to combine budgets for Michigan State University Extension offices and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Stations – and then slash them by more than 50 percent – is drawing fire from Leelanau County’s MSU Extension director as well as the county’s bipartisan delegation in Lansing.

State Sen. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) and State Rep. Dan Scripps (D-Leland), this week joined local Extension director Rob Sirrine in condemning a budget proposal unveiled by the Democratic governor last week.

Sirrine said that, if enacted, the governor’s budget proposal would devastate MSU Extension programs in Leelanau County, including the popular 4-H youth programs, and gut agricultural experiment programs at MSU’s Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Bingham Township – to say nothing of similar programs throughout Michigan.

Sirrine noted that six years ago, MSU Extension’s budget was cut by 32 percent, “and we made difficult but necessary adjustments to deal with the crisis.”
Leelanau County’s MSU Extension 4-H youth educator Barb Duvall remembers.

The local Extension and its 4-H programs were threatened with extinction another time in 2006 when a county budget shortfall led commissioners to request a one-mill property tax increase to support a variety of county programs including those administered by the MSU Extension. The millage proposal was approved by Leelanau County voters in November 2006 by a margin of less than one percent.

“We’ve faced budget cuts before and have weathered them,” Duvall said.  “Of course, we’re all very concerned about the governor’s recent proposal, but we’re also hopeful that our track record will speak for itself.  It’s a scary time for everybody.”
McManus agreed.

“I’m very concerned that Gov. Granholm is intent on cutting exactly the wrong things in the budget,” McManus said.  “Clearly, she misunderstands what these organizations do.  I guess this is something that we in the Legislature will need to fight out with her.”
Scripps said that he, too, planned to fight the cuts.

“The proposal to combine MSU Extension budgets with those of the agricultual experiment stations takes us in the wrong direction,” Scripps said.  “In fact, there are a couple of things in the governor’s proposed budget that may indicate a bias against rural areas.”

The governor has also proposed a cut in state aid for public schools – a measure that Scripps said will unfairly impact schools in rural areas of northern Michigan that receive the minimum “foundation grant” funding offered by the state, notably Suttons Bay and Traverse City area public schools.

Sirrine, McManus and Scripps all pointed to a recent report from the state indicating that agriculture is one of the few areas of Michigan’s economy that is remaining relatively strong despite the current nationwide economic recession.  The study showed that Michigan’s “agri-food industry” grew by about 12 percent last year, and currently generates some $71.3 billion for the state’s economy.

“I would not cut programs that are helping one of the top economic engines in the state stay alive,” Sirrrine said.  He said that cuts to the agricultural experiment stations and MSU Extension programs “will stop the advancement of new knowledge and innovation in important state initiatives such as alternative energy, bioeconomy, environmental sustainability, food safety, ‘cool cities’ and entrepreneurialism.”

Sirrine said that “those of us who work for and with MSU Extension are acutely aware of our state’s dire economic condition and the potential need for budget cuts.  All we are asking is that MSUE and (agricutltural experiment stations) receive the same treatment as the other higher education budget lines.”

Pressed by a reporter to suggest other cuts the governor might consider in lieu of cuts to MSU Extension programs, Sirrine said he believed the state could enact deeper cuts to the state prison system.

“It’s one of the costliest programs in the state and we could probably save a lot of money by finding alternatives to prison for low-level, non-violent offenders,” Sirrine said.