Lane county residents can get tips on everything from canning to animal husbandry through Oregon State University Extension. That service requires funding. A political action committee hopes to convince voters to approve a local option tax in the May Primary.
Passage of Ballot measure 20-239 would restore county funding to the Oregon State University Extension Service for the first time since 2010. Leigh Rieder is a Master Gardener who volunteers for the service. She says Extension programs benefit Lane County residents in very real ways.
Rieder: “They’re providing youth development and youth leadership through 4-H. They are teaching people how to have a greater food security by producing and preserving their own food and doing so in a safe way that won’t make them sick.”
Approval of the measure will mean an additional $3 for a home valued at $200,000. Rieder says so far public support for the levy is strong.
Rieder: “The only argument we have heard on occasion is from the people who simply believe that all taxes are wrong.”
If passed, Measure 20-239 would supplement state and federal funding for 4-H and OSU Extension for the next five years.
