McLennan County’s agricultural extension office will lose one person as the agency lays off 63 people in a round of state government budget cuts.

A total of 94 jobs in the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are being cut around the state effective Oct. 31, said Kyle Smith, executive associate director for the extension service.

Besides the 63 layoffs, 31 vacant positions will be eliminated at a variety of levels, he said. About 25 percent of the cuts will be at the extension service’s College Station headquarters.

In January, all state departments were told to find a way to cut their budgets by 5 percent, Smith said.

The extension service is funded by a mix of federal, state and county funds. The cuts take $6.2 million from the current budget.

In McLennan’s Waco extension office, one agent involved in the Family Resource Management program will leave.

At present, five agents handle extension service programs, said Shane McLellan, agricultural extension agent.

The other four handle natural resources, 4-H, family and consumer science and family resource management, McLellan said.

The extension service handles mostly agriculture-related educational services for youths and adults as part of a national system.

All of the agency’s programs will stay, but the staff is looking at new ways to deliver the same information to their clients, Smith said.

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