Cornell Cooperative Extension asks Ulster County for 3% increase as federal grants shrink

Melanie Forstrom, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ulster County, asked the county legislature’s Economic Development committee on Aug. 5 for a 3% increase in the county appropriation for 2026 to maintain operations and staff purchasing power. Forstrom said the request is intended as a cost‑of‑living adjustment to prevent salary erosion and to sustain critical local programming while the extension pursues longer‑term diversification of its revenue streams.

Forstrom reminded legislators that CCE’s relationship with county government and with Cornell University is established in County Law 224, which defines the association’s purpose and statutory relationship. She credited the legislature’s prior increase, saying the county allocation ticked up after the 2024 change. However, Forstrom warned of shrinking federal and state supports: she said Sea Grant funding that had previously paid roughly half of a Hudson River microplastics educator’s salary is zeroed out in the current federal budget, and she said local SNAP‑Ed funding is ending this month — the CCE nutrition educator Mary’s last day was forthcoming at the time of the meeting. Forstrom said Friday would be the first day in decades that Ulster County would not have a direct federal‑funded nutrition educator providing in‑person nutrition education in county schools and community programs.

The executive director also said the association’s required Eastern New York regional contribution, which is computed from the U.S. Census-based formula, rose unexpectedly to nearly $112,000 — higher than the $96,000 figure CCE had budgeted, creating an immediate shortfall. Forstrom described programming supported by those funds, including watershed and farm tours for elected officials, cut‑flower industry outreach, agritourism work, Farm Fresh Fridays to bring locally grown produce into Kingston schools, youth 4‑H activities, a wraparound respite program for relatives raising children, and regional specialist support in viticulture and fruit production.

Legislators asked for clarifications about program links to municipal initiatives and funding sources. Forstrom said the Farm Fresh Fridays procurement effort ties to a Creating Healthy Schools initiative that the county and the City of Kingston now share, and she said CCE subcontracts with Kingston for related school procurement work. She described plans to model volunteer-driven programs — similar to the Master Gardener volunteer network — to scale education and food‑preservation training without adding full‑time staff.

Forstrom proposed a modest 3% increase rather than the larger figure she said she could justify if the county were to attempt to fully shore up all lost federal funding; she said she was sensitive to the county’s own fiscal pressures. She asked the committee for continued partnership and for help identifying sustainable multi‑year funding sources to protect core services such as nutrition education, watershed outreach and agricultural research support.

The committee received the request and exchanged questions about related county allocations; the chair reminded members that the annual funding allocation for CCE, the Soil & Water Conservation District and the libraries is determined later in the legislature’s budget process and is not part of the 2026 operating budget hearings handled by this committee.