Extension concerns

I am writing in reference to an article (“Washington County passes budget,” BDN, Dec. 20), concerning the increase of the Washington County Extension’s budget by $5,400, as there seems to be some confusion concerning the reasons given for an 11 percent increase in the budget of Washington County Extension Service.

Sometime during the summer of 2001 a carrying beam collapsed under the weight of stored pamphlets and paper causing the building to drop about nine inches to one side. An engineer representing the insurance company wrote a report stating that the building would have to be repaired and reinforced to hold the weight of the documents stored by Extension in the building.

Previous to this report, I had spoken to Lewis Bassano about our need to raise the rental fee $1,200 annually. Sometime late, Bassano informed me that the Washington County Budget Committee had disapproved the rate increase and voted to continue funding the Extension service at $48,200 annually. I was disappointed with the decision as I felt the rental increase was justified by the circumstances.

When I contacted the county commissioners’ office to discuss the increase, I learned from the minutes of the Nov. 13 meeting that Bassano had requested a funding increase of $5,400 from the Budget Committee. This was $4,200 more than a $1,200 rent increase we were asking for.

At the Dec. 13 meeting, the county commissioners reversed the recommendation of the Budget Committee. After cutting the budgets of the other third-party organizations (Eastern Maine Development Corp., Down East Hospice, Washington County Council of Governments and Neighbors against Drug Abuse) in the amount of $5,500 they increased the Washington County Extension budget by $5,400.

Granting this increase appeared contrary to the statement of Commissioner John Crowley, and the actions of the commissioners in regard to other agencies within the county, where he expressed a “line in the sand” when it came to budget increases. It appears Bassano asked for and received a substantial increase in his budget under a guise, portraying it as a fixed overhead cost increase that did not exist.

I expressed to the commissioners at the close of the meeting that there was an impression that we had asked for a $5,400 increase in the annual rental fee. Or that money was required because of the building condition. This sense was confirmed with the report in the Bangor Daily News which quotes Crowley explaining that $5,400 was needed, “because the floor in the building collapsed … and the landlord who is repairing the structure, is increasing the rent.”

This was simply not the case. The extensive cost to repair the building was not to be borne by the Extension Service. While some disruption was inevitable as the building was repaired, there was never a need for the total evacuation of the building as I explained to Bassano on several occasions.

On their own initiative the Extension Service hired a local service to dispose of dumpster loads of paper which had caused the building to fail, and procure the services of county prisoners to remove all the contents of the building. While they have posted a “we’re moving” message on their Web site, we have yet to receive any formal notification of what the intentions of the Washington County Extension Service are. Nor have we received any portion of December’s rent.

After 10 years of renting to a public organization, and in light of the requirements the University of Maine’s Extension Service forced on the structure as a tenant, I do not believe a $100-a-month increase was unreasonable or unwarranted. How the Extension Service will spend its 11 percent windfall remains to be seen.

Steve Austin lives in Machias.