Where’s the money going to come from?
Conservation districts concerned about how they’ll operate following vetoCrystal Nelson
Area conservation districts are trying to figure out how they will survive in future years in light of state funding cuts for the new fiscal year.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the Michigan Department of Agriculture's 2009-10 fiscal year budget on Oct. 14, which included 16 line item vetoes. Conservation districts were included in those vetoes.
"The veto eliminated $236,900 for 79 conservation districts," said Jennifer Holton, MDA spokesperson.
Holton said the conservation districts have seen a steady decline in funding since 2001. In the last eight years, funding has gone from $2.8 million to zero.
"There's going to be impact. What those impacts will be I can't speculate at this time," she said.
Last fiscal year the Alpena County Conservation District received $9,570 from the state. Executive Director Pam Troy said she's still trying to evaluate what her operating budget will be this year because of the cut and didn't have a figure available yet.
"We knew it would be less. We didn't know that it would be totally nothing," she said of the state's cut.
Troy said the cut is causing her hours to be reduced from 32 hours to 20 hours a week. The office will remain open for the same amount of hours and days because staff from other agencies also utilize the space. The conservation district also receives funding through equipment rental fees and its annual tree sale.
The Alcona County Conservation District's has had two funding sources cut for this fiscal year. In addition to the state cut, the county board of commissioners likely will not contribute any money from its budget for its next fiscal year which starts in January. The county's allocation typically is $3,000 and the county's budget is going to be tight, said Kevin Boyat, board of commissioners chair.
"Our $3,000 isn't doing a lot of good if the state pulled it away too," he said.
Randy Thompson, Alcona conservation district board chair, said the county and state allocations were the major contributors to the budget. The budget for the 2010 fiscal year will be about $12,000. It's currently living off of contingency funds it saved. As funding has been reduced it already has scaled back on services and make cuts such as laying off its executive director a couple years ago. The district also receives funding from its tree sale.
"We knew it was coming so we started going what we could to save, so that we can hopefully at least keep the doors open, so that if a customer has problems we can help them," he said.
The district is keeping the office open and cutting back on items such as having a booth at the county fair and a poster contest for children. It plans to continue the phragmites eradication program and the tree sale. The district currently is seeking alternative funding sources, Thompson said.
Ralph Stedman, Presque Isle County Conservation District administrator, said his budget has been reduced by about $3,800 from the previous fiscal year. This year's budget will be about $39,000 with the other major contributors being the county and its tree sales. In light of the cut, Stedman has tried to increase partnerships with other agencies and be careful about how money is spent.
"Right now for the next several months we're going to be OK. Since I'm the only employee here I have a lot of control in what we spend," he said.
Stedman said the district may have to reduce its office hours down from its current 24 hour week. However, reducing hours can have a negative impact long term because it could affect partnerships and ability to get funding.
The Montmorency County Conservation District has tried to cut expenses and has saved in anticipation of funding cuts. For this year, the conservation district will be depleting its savings account by $20,000 to contribute to its anticipated $36,700 budget. The other major funding sources come from tree sales and when the district sells plat books every few years. The state grant had been used to pay for operations to keep the office open, said Gloria Woudenberg, administrative assistant.
The conservation district board is mulling over ways to deal with the cuts. Members have discussed possibly cutting office hours or improving its Web site to make commonly sought after information more easy to access.
"(The savings account) would take us into the 2010-11 (year), at that point there's a lot of variables," Woudenberg said. "We were trying to find out if we can stretch it beyond that."
Patty Ramus can be reached via e-mail at pramus@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.
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ExcellTrinity
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11-08-09 7:26 PM
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I second that surefoot!
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surefoot
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11-08-09 4:02 PM
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Impose high tariffs on imports to the USA a to compensate for the loss revenue form companies closing plants and moving overseas and laying off million of USA workers which takes them off the tax roll.
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ExcellTrinity
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11-07-09 11:03 PM
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Oh...It's going to get worse, you can bet on it! The bloated stimulus that Granholm went around the state in the spring to promote is going to be due soon, meaning that the state is OBLIGATED to maintain that value every year. She promised relief! We got grief! Those thousands of stimulus $$$ for crack treatment have been spent, and the cracks remain. Simply cutting back solves nothing you see. The stimulus guidelines have cut our throats. Thanks for nothing Granholm. You suck!
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