WSU extensions will face reduced budgets

JENNIFER FORSMANN, Evergreen reporter

Several WSU extension offices and programs across the state will be face budget changes.

According to the budget memo sent to all College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences’ faculty and staff on Nov. 1, three main changes will occur.

The first change affects the administrative structures of Mount Vernon and Puyallup Research and Extension Centers. They have been redesigned to share administration, and savings from alterations in staffing will be reallocated to pay off the centers’ debt.

The second change outlined in the CAHNRS budget memo was expenditure reductions to the WSU Extension Energy Program.

Finally, both the Puyallup and Wenatchee R&E Centers, if approved by the Board of Regents, will begin selling land parcels. The Prosser R&E Center will potentially lease acreage unused by researchers, according to the CAHNRS memo.

“The budget approaches have been communicated broadly throughout the college,” said Marta Coursey, communication director for the college. “All of CAHNRS will have ongoing budget decisions to face for the next three years.”

The Lewis County Extension Office is facing budget reductions from the Lewis County Commissioners Board, as well as from WSU.

The Chronicle reported the Lewis County commissioners have already decreased the county’s contribution to the extension office by $39,600. Future budget changes are in discussion, such as moving the office out of the county courthouse, which would save $23,000 in facility costs, according to The Chronicle. Another potential change is reducing $9,000 in program costs by reclaiming the extension office training room.