UI Extension provides more detail on office consolidations throughout Illinois
As part of its plan to reduce costs, the University of Illinois Extension on Wednesday revealed some additional details on how it will organize county offices around the state.
The university announced last month it planned to reduce the number of multicounty Extension units from 76 to 27 in order to cut administrative and office rental costs. The units are offices that oversee several different counties. On Wednesday, the UI Extension unveiled a map that showed which counties would combine into one unit.
Champaign, Vermilion, Ford and Iroquois Counties will all be part of one unit.
"The plan is to have one hub office. ... In the other three (counties) there will be a satellite office which, depending on funding, may or not be open five days a week," said interim UI Extension director Bob Hoeft.
Piatt, Macon and DeWitt will be considered one unit. Douglas, Moultrie, Coles, Shelby and Cumberland are another unit.
How much savings will come about as a result of the reorganization is not clear yet, but Hoeft said the ultimate goal is to reduce the 2011 fiscal year budget by $7 million.
Extension's budget for this year is $65 million. Extension is funded by the state, local counties, federal government, grants as well as revenue-generating activities. As of Wednesday, UI Extension had not received any state funding for the current fiscal year, which ends next month.
Which counties would work together was "determined by people in the counties. They worked together to put together the plan," Hoeft said.
"Next we'll be looking at how we're going to staff each of these partnerships and where the hub offices will be. The local councils will be part of the conversations," Hoeft said. Each county has a UI Extension council comprised of area residents.
Where these hubs and satellite offices will be and how they'll be staffed will be decided by July 1, 2011; however, Hoeft said he hopes those decisions will be made earlier.
What programs will be offered in the offices will also continue to be guided by local UI Extension councils, he said.
More
Comments
News-Gazette.com embraces discussion of both community and world issues. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. we reserve the right to remove any comment at its discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.