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Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler
Cooperative Extension branches to share services
Cuts in funding from counties prompts consolidations
By Rob Montana
Staff Writer, The Hornell Evening Tribune
Born of necessity, three branches of the Cornell Cooperative Extension
are exploring ways to make their services more economical.
Due to budget cuts from county funding sources, the Steuben, Chemung
and Schuyler county branches have announced they are looking to
consolidate programs and areas of duplication.
This is not to be confused with a merger of the three, as all
will retain local offices.
"The three associations are working together to find areas
in our operations to collaborate and streamline services,"
said Thomas Tomsa, executive director of the Cornell Cooperative
Extension Steuben County branch. "It won't be one merged
association. They will be three unique branches, serving the needs
of their communities."
Tomsa said greater importance was placed on working together due
to less funding received from the counties. The Steuben County
branch will see $110,000 less from the county in the 2004 budget
year, while Chemung County is going to be cut by $100,000.
"This way we'll become more efficient and eliminate our dependence
on county-appropriated funds," he said. "In this particular
case, we're doing it to reduce the impact of the cuts. We got
very gloomy funding scenarios from the counties."
"The cuts to our funding is about 28 percent of our total
funding," Tomsa added. "Chemung was informed they would
be cut $100,000 and that's on the heels of a $100,000 cut two
years ago."
This year the Steuben branch received approximately $391,000 from
the county in 2003.
"That's a small amount of money for the programs we provide,"
said Tomsa. "The money the county provides is used as leverage
support for money from the federal and state government, Cornell
university and other funding avenues."
Tomsa said the consolidation efforts should not affect any of
the branch's 18 employees - at least for the short term future.
Chemung County employs about 35 people, while approximately 15
people are employed by Schuyler County.
"We've tried to go through this with reserve funds and make
a transition over to sharing with other counties," he said.
"We're looking for alternative sources of funding and doing
what we can in 2003."
"That's not to say in 2005, if things haven't changed significantly
and more cuts are made, we'll be able to keep the staff intact,"
added Tomsa. "We'd have to look at the reality, necessity
and inevitability there will have to be reductions in staff here."
This won't be the first time the branches have worked together
on their programs.
"There is quite a long history of the cooperative extension
recognizing regional needs and forming regional programs that
stretch across various counties," said Tomsa. "For example,
the Finger Lakes Grape Program has been going on for several years.
There are five or six counties that jointly got together for a
program that funds the grape growers and wine industry in the
Finger Lakes region."
The Cornell Cooperative Extension, begun by Cornell University,
offers informal education in a variety of areas. Originally used
primarily for agricultural education, the extension has branched
out to better suit the needs of the communities.
"Really, traditionally, the biggest focus was agriculture
and rural living,": said Tomsa "As population and lifestyles
changed, the programs have changed to fit the needs of the people."
He added that new programs included financial planning and debt
management education, a power partner program with NYSEG to educate
individuals about managing energy and finances and nutrition and
food safety programs. The Cooperative Extension is also responsible
for the 4-H program and other school-related activities.
