IRON MOUNTAIN — A majority of Dickinson County commissioners claim Michigan State University needs no local funding to operate MSU Extension programs in communities statewide.

That’s the apparent argument behind the board’s 4-1 vote Monday to reject a proposed $81,000 Dickinson County Extension allocation. A $40,000 compromise also failed.

“Why can’t MSU be taking care of the counties instead of the counties taking care of them?” Commissioner Kevin Sullivan said.

The board’s decision came in a circuit courtroom packed with dozens of Extension supporters, including 4-H volunteers. With nearly 100 people attending, hands went up across the room during citizens time when Lynne Wilson of Breitung Township asked if there was support for Extension funding.

After the board’s decision, Christy Church of Kingsford chastised commissioners for seeing the allocation only as an expense and not “a return on investment.”

“If you will not fund it, put it on the ballot,” she said.

Commissioner Joe Stevens, who supported funding, proposed $40,000 as an alternative. There was no support from fellow commissioners.

“It’s a sad day for Dickinson County,” Stevens said as the two-hour session ended.

Stevens is the only returning member from a county board that approved an $81,000 agreement in December. Sullivan and three other commissioners were newly elected in November and seated Jan. 1.

Commissioner Dan Harrington, the new board chairman, proposed elimination of Extension funding at the board’s first regular meeting, citing voter rejection of MSU millage referendums in May 2015 and August 2016. The budget cut was approved 3-1 at the Jan. 13 session, with Sullivan abstaining.

Challenged during a February meeting about the Extension decision, Harrington described 4-H as “a woke, crazy organization” and the funding agreement as “the rich stealing from the poor taxpayers of the county.”

The county ended Extension funding after the two millage defeats, resumed it in 2022 and provided $75,000 in both 2023 and 2024. The money is drawn from the county’s share of adult-use marijuana state tax distributions, which totaled $232,915 this year.

In March, over Harrington’s objections, the board agreed to have a meeting with Extension District Director Paul Putnam to discuss the 4-H youth program and other Extension services. It finally happened Monday after Putnam relayed in July that — absent county support — MSU would no longer be able to provide a full-time 4-H coordinator with an office at Bay College’s Iron Mountain campus.

Putnam’s 25-minute presentation Monday included figures showing 364 youth involved in Dickinson 4-H and 243 Extension programs accessed by residents. The Extension, he noted, follows federal law in how it treats staff, volunteers and program participants.

Putnam acknowledged that independent youth clubs are also available but pointed out MSU conducts background checks on its program leaders. “Factual information is behind what we’re implementing” and activities include liability insurance protection, he added.

“You have more than paid for 4-H if you keep just one kid out of your judicial system,” Putnam said.

Statewide, the MSU Extension budget totaled about $75 million in the 2024-25 budget year, including about $53 million in salaries and benefits. Besides 4-H, programming is offered in areas such as business, agriculture, community, gardening, food and health, natural resources and family.

Federal and state allocations are the main source of funding, but counties give support through memorandums of understanding, plus in-kind contributions such as office space. Dickinson County’s agreement would help cover a salary of $48,500 as well as $33,900 in benefits for 4-H coordinator Jessica Ice.

In addressing the board, Ice said activities such as the 4-H Proud Equestrians Program require “months and months of preparation,” including outside fundraising. “I believe in what I do,” she said.

Sullivan said MSU has an endowment fund totaling $4.4 billion, along with cash and investments totaling $5.6 billion. Describing that wealth as “staggering,” he asked, “Why does a university have to have so much money?”

If programs in Dickinson County are lost, Sullivan said, it will be because of MSU’s actions and not the absence of county funding.

Over the past five years, about $1.13 billion in income generated by MSU endowment investments has been used to “directly support” the university’s operating budget, MSU reported in October.

MSU last month announced plans to reduce its general fund by 9% over the next two years, due to a decrease in federal funding and an increase in operating costs. The planned reduction includes laying off more than a hundred workers from MSU Extension, a decision linked to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Commissioner Victoria Jakel said she’s “not against 4-H personally” but observed that in the years of no Extension funding “the county didn’t fall apart.”

Commissioner Peter Swanson said the county board must be “fiscally responsible” and its decisions won’t please everyone.

Comments directed at commissioners at times got personal. Some audience members shouted “Shame! Shame!” after adjournment.

During citizens time, Erin Polkinghorne of Iron Mountain said the board was “stripping funding away and shrugging off the consequences.” She termed the funding decision “sabotage” and asked, “Why do you hate your constituents?”

Pamela Trask of Breitung Township countered that “just a fraction” of MSU’s endowment could fund the Extension. The community has spoken through two failed millages, she said.

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Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.