AUBURN – The University of Maine Cooperative Extension office in Lisbon Falls and two local affiliates of the federal Department of Agriculture will not receive county funding under the proposed 2005 budget.

The Androscoggin County Budget Committee has eliminated $48,000 for the Androscoggin-Sagadahoc Counties Cooperative Extension Service, $2,500 for Time and Tide Resource Conservation and Development Area, and $14,000 for the Androscoggin Valley Soil & Water Conservation District to keep the budget at last year’s level.

The county has funded the extension agency since it was formed about 100 years ago, said Brett Thompson, president of the agency’s executive committee. Without the money, the Lisbon Falls office could close.

The University of Maine System pays $840,442, the lion’s share of the Lisbon Falls office budget, with the condition that both Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties fund a portion of the agency’s budget.

“If the counties refuse to support us, the University of Maine will no longer fund us,” Thompson said. “Sagadahoc, alone, cannot float us.

“It’s a mutually beneficial program. If it’s not funded, I can’t imagine it staying open much beyond spring,” he said.

Extension programs in Androscoggin County include education, 4-H and nutrition.

Time and Tide would not close, but its $29,000 budget would be affected. The most likely cut would be liability insurance that covers members working on watershed projects.

“You don’t want to put a risk on their plate when you ask them to help shepherd projects,” project coordinator Sue Watson said.

The nonprofit agency serves six counties and operates under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from an office in Augusta. The agency was authorized and funded in Maine in 1974 by an act of Congress with support of the Androscoggin County Commission and the Maine Legislature.

Androscoggin Valley Soil & Water Conservation District is also affiliated with the USDA.

“Fourteen thousand dollars is a big drop,” said Jane Heikkinen, manager of the Lewiston office. “It will crimp our style greatly.” She said the agency could eventually close if the funding freeze goes beyond this year.

Each of the three agency representatives said they want to plead their cases to the County Commission and Budget Committee.

“We had a meeting scheduled before (Nov. 17) and they canceled it at the last minute. Then I got this jolly news,” Thompson said.

“We have requested a hearing. At this point we haven’t had a confirmation,” Heikkinen said.

County Commission Chairman Elmer Berry laid blame for budget freeze on the Budget Committee. “We have faithfully supported them throughout the years. This year, in my opinion, the Budget Committee is cutting beyond reason,” Berry said.

The County Commission drafted a budget with a 15.8 percent tax increase, which the Budget Committee rejected. The commission then submitted a draft with a 2.81 percent tax increase, which was also rejected.

The county raised $6,503,053 in taxes for its 2004 budget. The first draft of the 2005 budget called for $7,483,730 in taxes.