"Brain drain astounding" as dozens depart water district under state cutbacks

by Christine Stapleton
Staff Writer Palm Beach Post
August 13, 2011

Chris McVoy lost his job at South Florida Water Management District Friday, August 12, 2011. He was a Senior Environmental Scientist. "They told me around 11am," he said. "I have worked here since 1995. I've devoted the better part of my career to working on Everglades restoration. I'm pretty disappointed that the governor and legislature have lost their commitment to Everglades restoration. This is just straight politics

Officials at the South Florida Water Management District did not release the number of workers laid off by the agency on Friday but there were many, with departures throughout the day. Workers were asked to leave quickly.

An estimated 100 people are expected to be gone when the layoffs are completed Aug. 17.
A plain-clothes sheriff's deputy wearing a bullet-proof vest sat at the security desk near the agency's front door all day Friday. No incidents were reported.

"The brain drain out of this place has been astounding," said Christopher W. McVoy, a senior environmental scientist in the Everglades division, who was laid off on Friday afternoon. McVoy, who has a Ph.D. in soil physics from Cornell, worked at the district for 15 years. "Obviously people losing their jobs is a bad thing but it goes way beyond that. What they are undoing here is big."

Already 123 workers have left the agency after accepting buyouts in June. Of those, 19 were
scientists. Several other scientists left earlier this year, finding jobs at other agencies or institutions, after learning This was a very deliberate, very organized effort that didn't have to be -- just to save about $30 a year on your tax bill." layoffs were imminent. The scattering of such highly specialized scientists who devoted years of their careers to the unique problems of South Florida, such as the

Everglades restoration, will take its toll, McVoy said.

"Building up that institutional knowledge is invaluable," McVoy said. "It will be much harder to recreate it."

Workers remaining will see reductions in benefits, including medical insurance, tuition reimbursements and a health care subsidy for retirees, along with elimination of the vacation and sick leave buyback program and the matching contributions the district makes to an employee's deferred compensation plan.

The staff and benefit cuts are being made to comply with a new law, strongly backed by Gov. Rick Scott, requiring the district to slash by 30 percent -- about $128 million -- the money it can raise through property taxes

To accomplish that, the board approved a proposal to set a tax rate just under 44 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value, down from this year's rate of 62 cents. Based on that rate, a home with an assessed value of $200,000 with a $50,000 homestead exemption would save about $27.

"A lot of people talk about it like it's a natural disaster, a fatalistic sense that bad things just happen," McVoy said, standing in the parking lot after losing his job. "