In May Lane County voters will have the opportunity to help fund Oregon State University’s Extension Service. Tuesday, the Board of Commissioners decided to place a tax levy on the ballot.
OSU’s Extension Service offers the 4-H youth program and community classes in food safety, preservation, and nutrition.
Rose Jepson-Sullivan is County Leader for OSU Extension Service. She says the County used to help fund their program, but in 2010 it could no longer afford to support Extension; and a tax levy failed.
Jepson-Sullivan says at that time some programs, like 4-H, went away. Since then, with the help of volunteers and outside funding, some of those services have returned.
Jepson-Sullivan: “We’ve come a long way since 2010, but if we were to receive this funding we would be able to lower fees and make 4-H more accessible.”
Jepson-Sullivan says the funding would also help stabilize support for the master gardener and food preserver classes and would aid in the development of a Master Woodland Manager program.
The proposed tax levy would charge one and a half cents per $1,000 of assessed property value and would
raise about $452,000 a year for OSU Extension Service.
The primary election is May 17th.