LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) – Some Metro Council members are questioning Mayor Craig Greenberg’s decision to cut funding for two agricultural programs in his budget proposal.Â
Greenberg’s plan recommends $30,000 for the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District in the upcoming fiscal year, down from $113,200 last year, and $30,000 for the Jefferson County Extension Office, a decrease from a recent allocation of $335,000.
Officials with those agencies told WDRB News this month that without the city funding they won’t be able to continue programs such as nutrition education, soil testing and providing infrastructure for growing crops.
The Metro dollars in recent years have been included in the economic development cabinet’s budget, which was scrutinized by the council’s budget committee on Tuesday.
“I think it would be a grave mistake to not fund something that focuses on our youth, agriculture, natural resources, family, consumer sciences, horticulture--all the things that are connected,” said Council member Shameka Parrish-Wright (D-3rd District). “We have nothing else in our budget that’s even talking about it.”
Metro Council member Shameka Parrish-Wright (D-3rd District).
Greenberg previously said his approach is to look at the budget with “fresh eyes and new perspectives each year.”
Jeff O'Brien, executive director of the city's economic development cabinet, told the council panel that Kentucky state government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are better suited to fund those programs. He said other city efforts, such as a possible “green bank,” could also fill the void.
Council member Andrew Owen (D-9th) said he believes several members will advocate for the funding to be put back into the spending plan for the upcoming year. “I would like to find a way to have that be reintroduced into the budget. I think it's important that we that we not abandon that.”
Another councilor, Besty Ruhe (D-21st), said the proposed budget cuts target services that urban farmers depend on and also include outreach to farmers’ markets and other educational efforts, such as 4-H.
“There's a lot of stuff going on in there that is going to be cut off right now and people are justifiably upset,” Ruhe said.
The soil and water district was created in 1944, shortly after a Kentucky law outlined their responsibilities that include conservation practices on agricultural lands, controlling soil erosion and preventing water runoff.
The districts, whose members are elected by voters, must be funded mainly by property taxes or through local fiscal courts, the governing body in most Kentucky counties. Local appropriations were the funding method chosen when Jefferson County’s district was established, according to a document prepared to defend the district’s budget request.
The district receives other state and federal funds and grants, which are dedicated to certain purposes. “The District relies on Metro Council allocations entirely for its operational expenses,” the document says.
The extension office is among 120 in the state affiliated with the University of Kentucky. Catherine Shake, a farmer who chairs the local extension district board, previously told WDRB News that the UK funding only pays staff salaries and doesn’t cover the cost of operating local programs.
The Metro Council must vote on the budget before the city’s new fiscal year begins in July.
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