At the local level, county staff share their expertise across county lines and become quite specialized. Limited state resources require that a narrow set of priorities be identified for specialists. This leads to fewer state programs being developed than in the past. Emphasis is placed on maintaining high quality programs even when the quantity of programming is reduced. Traditional clientele are served with the constricted local staff and these traditional clientele are fiercely loyal to Cooperative Extension.
Counties increase their commitment to financing local salaries.
A frequent staffing pattern is a state-employed county staff member with a master's degree and one more county employee who has a bachelor's degree. In some counties, paraprofessionals complement the professional staff. Counties will eventually fund three-fourths or more of all local positions. The locally funded positions are extremely responsive to local concerns and perform advisory functions with longstanding groups freeing the state employed person from that role. State-based specialists continue to be placed in university departments that have longstanding Extension traditions.