Georgia House of Representatives
Public Information Office
Room 505, Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, GA 30334
404-656-5082 1-800-282-5800
2-1962-5116
For Immediate Release 		 
February 9, 2004
Extension Agents High Priority for Speaker Coleman
Valuable resources must be protected
Atlanta – House Speaker Terry Coleman (D-Eastman) has been hearing from concerned constituents and fellow lawmakers with a strong interest in agriculture. Their discussions have focused on potential cutbacks in the state’s University Systems “B” budget, affecting a variety of services to farmers. The “B” budget is the part of the state University System funding in which institutes and other research centers are resident.

Because of Georgia’s current revenue shortfall, Governor Perdue has ordered state agencies to cut their current spending plans by 2.5 percent and an additional 5 percent cut for next year. Respectively, these cuts to UGA’s College of Agriculture, which oversees county extension agents and the Agricultural Experiment Station, amount to $926,000 in FY 04 and $2.6 million for FY 05. The number of county extension agents has dropped from 504 in 1990 to 312 now and the number of extension specialist has decreased from 226 to 111 in that same time. The last fiscal year the system cut 21 jobs.

“County agents are invaluable to rural communities,” said Coleman. “They provide services and information for farmers who frankly are having a hard time in today’s tough economic times. Georgia is no longer just competing with the Midwest in agriculture but with nations throughout the world. Cutting such a valuable resource will significantly harm our state’s number one industry.” Coleman also noted that the State’s 4H agents work within the Cooperative Extension Service and will be reduced as a result of the Governor’s budget proposals.

On another note, he added, “The Cooperative Extension Service isn’t the only one taking a big cut in this budget. There is a list of research institutes and valuable experiment stations who are going to face severe reductions in funding that could be detrimental to the future of Georgia. The House is committed to reinstating the University System’s “B” budget as a separate section of the 05 spending plan and working to fully fund each one of these important programs.”

Other programs in the “B” budget facing cuts include the Georgia Tech Research Institute, $800,000 cut; Agriculture Technology Research Program, $227,037 cut; Marine Extension Service, $117,301 cut; Veterinary Medicine Experiment Stations, $187,297 cut; Medical College of Georgia Health Inc. Contract, $2.5 million cut; and the Georgia Public Library Service and Public Libraries, $2.1 million cut.

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For further information contact Speaker Coleman at 404/656-5020.