A local option levy to fund Oregon State University Extension in Lane County appears to be passing by a narrow margin: 326 votes, as of a Thursday afternoon update from the Lane County elections office.
Regional Director for OSU Extension Richard Riggs said the service, which includes 4-H programs, depends on a five-year levy that was first passed in 2016.
He said this one did include an increase from 2.8 cents to 5 cents per $1,000 assessed value.
He said most people are probably familiar with 4-H from going to the county fair, for example.
“A lot of youth, if not many thousands of youth across the county over the years have participated in that program,” he said. “So that is probably our most well-known program.”
Riggs said they also have a forester who helps landowners make decisions about how to manage their properties. And they work with farmers, offer community health programs, and have a robust master gardener program and master food preservers.
“We have a tremendous impact across the county. In 2025, we had over 1,000 people walk into our office, and that was just just for our master gardeners alone, and ask questions,” he said. “We operate a food safety hotline so that we help people not just in Lane County but across the state, and we received calls from all 50 states and we have received calls from Canada and other countries”
Riggs said, in previous election years, they’ve enjoyed 66-70% passage rates for their levy. He said he knows there’s a lot of anti-tax sentiment right now.
Before Thursday's update, the levy was failing by more than 300 votes.
According to the Lane County elections office, the next release of updated vote totals will come on Thursday, May 28.
