What now? In November, Gallatin County voters, by a 56% to 44% margin shot down providing revenue through taxes to the University of Illinois Extension which operates 4-H. We reached out for comment from Angie Messmer, County Extension Director after the election and she signaled an intention to get back with us on what’s next but didn’t. She did however get on the agenda for Thursday night’s Gallatin County Board meeting with a proposal to keep 4-H going there. She asked the board to come up with $40,000 which would still leave a nearly $17,000 deficit she says the unit would be responsible for coming up with through grants, partnerships, and other funding including donations.
What I’m asking you to invest in is the future of Gallatin County; the children sitting right out there who get the programs, the food truck that comes to New Haven. And unfortunately, some people don’t believe we were involved in it…sorry, but we were. And if you want to ask them, sitting right there, they will tell you. It is the future of what you all want your community to be. And if people don’t want to be a part of U of I Extension services, they don’t have to be. If people don’t want to come to our programs, they don’t have to. But the people who need us and want us, those are the people we’re here for.
Chairmen Andrew Lunsford’s response was it would be morally wrong to go against the voters wishes.
We had a tax levy for it and it got voted down. We don’t have, number one, $40,000 but even if we did, I mean, the citizens were asked to vote, we brought it to a vote and I understand it was only about 280 votes difference, but it still passed as a no vote. And I mean…that would be in my opinion very disrespectful to the voters to go against their wishes.
Discussion then devolved into arguments over how the county board could fund the program citing certain counties, namely Hamilton which appropriates an amount annually. Board member Warren Rollman was largely quiet other than taking an opportunity to point out he believed that Doug Harlan, an Assistant Director with U of I Extension, had gotten that wrong himself in his argument at a past meeting.
I agree with you on that…and I explained that at the last meeting that Hamilton County takes it out of their regular budget, that they budget for it. But on three different occasions at the last meeting, Doug Harlan three different times said it had to come from the tax levy. I think that’s wrong, but that’s what he told us. He was intentionally misrepresenting so the voters would vote yes.
Messmer would close by saying Gallatin County would do without programs and services though we still don’t have a comprehensive list of those or a way to necessarily gauge what the impact will be.
