Local DEP office could lose state funding
The San Carlos Island office that houses State Department of Environmental Protection agency, which oversees the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve could be in danger of losing funding and closing, according to preserve manager Heather Stafford.
The office, which employs three part time and one full time employees, monitor water quality, sea grass and wading birds in the preserve; conducts educational outreach throughout Southwest Florida to residents and visitors, and comment on permit applications, according to Stafford.
Stafford said she responded late last year to a request from the Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas (CAMA) to reduce spending by 10 percent for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.
“They ask for budget cuts,” she said. “DEP and all of the agencies had to do theirs. Then there was a DEP proposal that went to the governor and in that proposal the DEP listed about 76 different things that they could cut.”
Stafford said the closure of two CAMA offices, the one on San Carlos Island and another on the east coast near Cocoa were listed near the bottom of the list.
“When we found out I was very surprised,” she said, adding that if the office were to close all of the people who fill four positions there would be laid off.
Stafford said a serious concern is that when the recommendations were presented last year it was for next year’s budget.
“They’re in special session now and this was even before they started talking about cutting this year so we’re not anywhere like, ‘Well, we’re OK now because we’re at the bottom of the list.'” Stafford said. “This special session that they’re in right now is dealing with this fiscal year and we’re still looking at cuts for next year.”
Stafford, who said she first opened the office 13 years ago, said when the recommendations were made last year she believed she would learn the fate of the San Carlos office early this year.
“But now because of the special session I still don’t know if we’re going to know for sure until after the session,” she said. “I think they have to figure out what the cuts are for this fiscal year and what part of the shortfall that’s going to take care of and then figure out what they have to do for the next year.”
Stafford said if the office was shut down many of the programs would be severely limited.
“We anticipate that we are going to be able to manage Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve from the Charlotte Harbor office with my staff there,” she said. “But if you don’t have people here we have to spread people thinner and it’s going to have a lot less attention and we won’t be able to provide the public with the services that we do.”
As to Stafford’s personal feelings about the possible closing of the San Carlos Island office.
“I’m crushed,” she said. “If this office does it will really hurt me – it means a lot to me. I never thought that I’d be facing something like this. I mean, it’s the first aquatic preserve in the state.”
CAMA Director Lee Edmiston in Tallahassee, said he would not speculate on the odds the San Carlos Island office would close down.
“At this point it’s too early to really say what’s going to happen for next year because we’re not sure what’s going to happen for this year,” Edmiston said, adding that the budget cuts are a sign of the times. “We’re not ecstatic about closing offices but the state of Florida is going through some hard budget times just like a lot of the citizens in Florida. We have to cut and the cuts have to occur somewhere.”