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Extension staff brief commissioners on staffing and university budget pressure
Summary
University of Nebraska Extension staff told Lincoln County commissioners that the statewide system faces further cuts while the local extension office is fully staffed in key positions and continuing programming such as student greenhouse and life-skills partnerships with area schools.
University of Nebraska Extension educators updated the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on local programming, staffing and pending statewide budget reductions during the meeting.
Greg Gotten, introduced as the lead educator at the local extension office, described a multi-year partnership that provides life-skills greenhouse training for students in the North Platte Public Schools and ESU 16. "We have a semester long class each spring semester on growing bedding plants... culminating into a plant sale that we will have here in May. And the students do the selling," Gotten said, explaining the program’s hands-on goal of teaching planning, greenhouse maintenance, customer service and technology skills.
Brian Cox, the regional engagement zone coordinator, and other extension staff briefed commissioners on staffing and larger budget uncertainties at the university. Cox said the extension system had been asked in April to find another $650,000 in reductions this fiscal year and that the University of Nebraska anticipated deeper measures: "It's anticipated right now that the, university is gonna have to come up with another 20,000,000, cuts." The presenters said local office staffing was stable: the local crops-and-water position had been filled and staff expected no immediate reductions in local service.
Gotten and Cox asked county leaders to keep communicating extension priorities to state officials and described outreach plans, including a plant sale, publicity through local media and ongoing community engagement. Commissioners and staff discussed how extension programming supports workforce and student outcomes and how potential state-level cuts could affect longer-term capacity.
No formal county action was required or taken on extension funding at the meeting; the presentation served as an update and a request for continued county support and awareness.
