If Bill Overholt doesn’t find $900,000 by July 1, he’ll be out of a job.
Overholt is one of 12 people who works at the biological control research and containment laboratory in Fort Pierce, a quarantine facility associated with UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Now, their jobs are in jeopardy.
Last Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott released the 2015-2016 veto and budget list. Colleges and universities, along with other statewide and local programs across Florida, saw budget cuts that totaled just more than $461 million.
UF IFAS saw $1.2 million in budget cuts. Of the $1.2 million, $900,000 is needed to keep the quarantine facility functioning, said Jack Payne, senior vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“It’s really sad because it does good work,” Payne said.
The $3.9 million facility received funding to be built in 2002 and opened in 2004, he said. Every year since, the Fort Pierce facility has received $720,000 from the government to function.
The budget was increased by $180,000 by legislators who supported the facility, which saves the state about $5 million a year, Payne said.
But without the state’s funding, the state-of-the-art facility will be an empty shell.
Overholt, a professor at UF, manages the facility, where he supervises how weeds are used to control invasive species.
When Payne gave them a call Tuesday to let them know the item was vetoed, Overholt said it wasn’t what they expected.
“We were shocked,” Overholt said, who’s been at the facility since it opened in 2004.
He’s spent ten years researching how to manage the Brazilian peppertree, an invasive tree found in the Everglades.
They found a beetle that feeds on the tree, but because the facility will no longer be funded, a future project may not happen.
Among the other items denied was the UF Norman Hall remodeling, which asked for $8 million to fix the roof, restore the electrical and plumbing and renovate the Norman library among other things, according to a fact sheet prepared for legislators.
Scott vetoed the item because there was no identifiable statewide impact, according to a prepared letter.
Scott approved $9.5 million for IFAS, and $5.5 million of it will restore 40 jobs lost in 2008 from the recession, Payne said.
Of the $53.85 million for UF, $19.3 million will go to performance funds, which will be used for salary increases. Another $5 million will go to preeminence funds, which will be used for hiring new faculty.
“We appreciate the Governor’s support of the Preeminence and Performance programs,” Janine Sikes, UF spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
Overholt remains optimistic. Although he said he plans to retire soon, said he is hopeful the issue can be resolved.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 6/29/15]
