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The proposal will be on the Lane County ballot in May. The increased levy would allow OSU Extension Service to expand its programs in the region.
Across Lane County, the Oregon State University Extension Service provides 4-H programs for youth, as well as classes and information about gardening, agriculture and forestry.
Participants learn about nutrition, growing produce and how to make their land sustainable, whether they live in cities or rural settings. In Lane County, more than 400 volunteers work alongside 16 employees in programs across the region, including through satellite offices in Oakridge and Florence. Programs also reach Mapleton, Lowell, the McKenzie River valley and other remote rural communities.
Lane County voters will decide in May if they want to pay additional property taxes to expand the Extension’s reach to residents — and put it on a path toward financial independence in the years ahead. At their meeting Tuesday, Feb. 3, Lane County commissioners voted unanimously to put the proposed levy on the ballot.
Voters will be asked to approve a five-year property tax levy of 5 cents for $1,000 of assessed value. The proposed levy is an increase from the current local option levy for Extension’s programs, which is 2.8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The current levy, which 65% of county voters approved in 2021, is due to expire this year.
The new levy would cost a homeowner about $12.50 annually on a house with an assessed value of $250,000. In comparison, the current levy amount costs the same property about $7 annually.
If it passes, the Extension Service wants to pursue a permanent tax district in 2031, which would eliminate the need for ongoing five-year levies.
“We’re building not just today for this year,” Richard Riggs, regional director of the OSU Extension Service, told commissioners. “We’re thinking long term, down the road. We want to make sure we have that permanent funding for services in the county.”
The extra funding would allow the Extension Service to open a satellite facility at the McKenzie River Discovery Center in Walterville. It would be the office’s third satellite site in Lane County. The money also would help programs expand in different areas, including 4-H, farming and forestry.
At its current rate, the levy is projected to generate nearly $1.5 million during this fiscal year, which ends June 30. If passed, the new levy would collect an estimated $2.4 million, or about $900,000 more in fiscal year 2027, according to preliminary estimates. That estimate could change, depending on property assessments and tax collection rates.
Commissioners praised the organization’s work in communities.
“Everything you do betters lives,” Commissioner Pat Farr told Extension Service officials. “This is a very easy one.”
Commissioners have experienced some of those programs firsthand.
“The first club I joined was 4-H,” said Farr, who immigrated from Sheffield, England, to Tillamook County when he was 10 years old.
Commissioner Laurie Trieger, who worked as the advocacy and outreach coordinator at Food for Lane County, said she saw how the food bank benefited from recipes and food samples that helped families put nutritious food on the table. Trieger said the recipes often introduced families to new food experiences.
“Once upon a time, kale was a new thing,” she said.
