To The Editor,
Last week’s letter to the editor submitted by Billy Ray of Carrollton regarding the Carroll County OSU Extension Levy contained several substantial inaccuracies.  We wish to correct those inaccuracies:

1. 4-H will not continue to exist in Carroll County if the levy does not pass.  Due to financial, legal, and other organizational constraints, the Carroll County Extension Office will be forced to close if the levy does not pass.  Without a local OSU Extension Office, there cannot and will not be a 4-H program in Carroll County.  The 4-H program and its components are legal entities of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the land grant universities (The Ohio State University).

2. The Carroll County Office of OSU Extension has drastically cut expenses.  Staff have been terminated, remaining employees have been furloughed one day each week, the office has been closed one day each week, Extension Educators have been assigned to other counties, and many programs have been eliminated (think Country Living Field Day).

3. Ohio State University Extension is a partnership between local communities, the university, and the USDA, with each entity sharing the cost to conduct Extension programming in each of Ohio’s 88 counties.  With funding provided by the Ohio General Assembly and the USDA, The Ohio State University provides nearly $250,000 in funding to operate the OSU Extension program in Carroll County.  In order to maintain an OSU Extension program, these funds must be matched by Carroll County, either through an appropriation from the county commissioners or through a property tax levy.  Without the local matching funds, these state and federal funds will be lost in Carroll County.

4. Each year, a large percentage of Carroll County’s population (youth and adults) participate in hundreds of OSU Extension programs offered right here in our community. Thousands more visit the Carroll County Office of OSU located at 32 W. Main St. in Carrollton or utilize resources at their website at www.carroll.osu.edu.

Carroll County OSU Extension Levy Committee
Tom Puch, Chairman
Carrollton, OH

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