A roomful of master gardeners from Cobb County’s extension services programs attended a budget hearing Wednesday requesting commissioners not to cut the program.

In June, a citizen’s oversight committee reviewing the county’s spending policies, recommended the program be eliminated. The extension program is a cooperative with the University of Georgia providing agricultural education and services. The committee found that program participation had declined as Cobb became more urbanized, and that the services should be provided at a regional level.

Cobb’s proposed 2012 budget, which begins Oct. 1, maintains funding for the program, and includes a budget increase for personnel costs. The budget is scheduled to be adopted Sept. 13.

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Austin Walters died from an overdose in 2021 after taking a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, his father said. A new law named after Austin and aimed at preventing deaths from fentanyl has resulted in its first convictions in Georgia, prosecutors said. (Family photo)

Credit: Family photo