County Cuts Could Hit Master Gardener Program

This is an important week for those enrolled in or interested in joining the DeKalb County Extension Office’s Master Gardener program.

As many are aware, county CEO Burrell Ellis has identified the Extension Office as a non-essential service and recommended that it be eliminated from the 2011 budget. That recommendation, of course, is not good news for the DeKalb Extension Master Gardener Program since it is part of the County Extension office. 

District One Commissioner Elaine Boyer will co-host two town hall-style meetings this week at which Dunwoody gardeners will have an opportunity to get an overview of the proposed budget, voice their opinions about the budget and ask questions about specific budget items, such as the Extension Office and Master Gardener program. The meeting dates and locations are:

• Tuesday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at Montgomery Elementary School, 3995 Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE. (Other co-host, Super District 6 Commissioner Kathy Gannon.)
• Thursday, Feb. 17 from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the Reid H. Cofer Library in Tucker, 5234 LaVista Road. (Other co-host, Super District 7 Commissioner Stan Watson.

The commission will vote on the budget next Tuesday, Feb. 22 at the Board of Commissioners meeting at 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur. There will be two opportunities for public comment at that meeting – at the start of the meeting at 9 a.m. and during the agenda portion.

The Extension Office is just one of the departments where Ellis has proposed significant cuts to make up for a steep decline in revenue. Some fear the cuts could be even deeper than proposed because, according to a recent report in the AJC, commissioners are reluctant to go along with a 2.32-mill tax increase Burrell is also proposing.

Eliminating the extension service from the 2011 budget would reduce the budget by $450,000 to $500,000, according to Robert Lundsten, chief of staff for Commissioner Boyer.