SFWMD Saving Taxpayers With Layoffs and More

Executive Director Melissa Meeker isn't fooling around. The new executive director of the South Florida Water Management District said she would rein in district spending and that's just what she's doing.

At Thursday's board meeting she told governors that she will pink-slip between 80 and 100 SFWMD workers before Aug. 17 -- which is in addition to the 123 staffers who accepted a buyout and left last month. When all is said and done, the district will be operating with 280 fewer staff, Meeker said.

On top of that, all staff contracts will be thinner. Medical insurance, tuition reimbursements, the retirees' health care subsidy, sick leave and buyback program -- all reduced, changed or eliminated. Ditto the district's matching contributions to employees' deferred compensation plan.

Higher paid staff members will take the biggest hit. Those making more than $90,000 annually will take a pay cut, which Meeker calculates to total $1.5 million.

No small potatoes. Meeker said staff reductions will save $22.3 million; benefits' changes, $17.7 million. The $1.5 million is the icing.

The board also approved a 30 percent cut in the district's tax rate, as Gov. Rick Scott wanted, saving property owners throughout the SFWMD.

A story on the Thursday meeting appears now in the online version of the Palm Beach Post.
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