Budget Update for 4-H

Last week Governor Granholm announced an executive order to address the Michigan budget deficit for the current (October 2006 to September 2007) fiscal year. As many of you know Granholm’s plan includes a 2% tax on services as well as a variety of cuts to programs. Although many of the reports say that the proposed plan includes no cuts for higher education, and a 2.5% increase for all of the states universities and community colleges, what the reports don’t say is that this proposed budget includes a 2.6 million dollar cut of funding for Extension. This is a 9.5% budget cut for Extension which includes 4-H youth programs. If the new plan is passed by the appropriations committees on February 22, this would have a huge impact on 4-H programs in Michigan!

The House and Senate appropriations committees have until February 22 to take action on Granholm’s Executive order. Both committees must approve the entire order for it to take effect. The elected official that represents Ottawa County on the House Appropriations Committee is David Agema. You can contact Rep. Agema via phone at 517-373-8900 or by e-mail at daveagema@house.mi.gov