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Tuesday, Jul. 22, 2008

Midstate colleges plan for budget cuts

Midstate colleges have made plans to trim a state-mandated 5 percent from their budgets, although which cuts will be enacted still remains to be seen.

Some potential cuts include dipping into reserves, cutting back on operating expenses and not filling vacant positions, several college officials said Monday.

University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis asked colleges to prepare for 5 percent budget reductions after Gov. Sonny Perdue asked all state agencies to cut 3.5 percent. The move comes in response to declining state tax revenues, which are down $600 million over the last year.

By asking for a larger reduction, the Board of Regents will be able to be strategic in its cutting, University System Spokesman John Millsaps said. Cuts will not necessarily be across the board, and it's possible not all cuts will be realized, he said.

Colleges last week turned in budget reduction plans that the regents will discuss at their August meeting.

"It would be inappropriate to speculate about what actually will be in the end result," Millsaps said, adding that it's too premature to think about layoffs.

Several midstate college officials agreed that layoffs are not currently in the plans; however, an official at the University of Georgia has said job losses at the state's flagship are a possibility. UGA faces $20 million in state cuts.

The end result at several other colleges could be serious, considering an earlier series of state budget cuts colleges endured about four years ago, said Middle Georgia College Interim President Mary Ellen Wilson.

"We were already pretty lean, and I think a lot of the other colleges were pretty lean, too," she said. "If we have additional budget cuts it could be very serious. It could affect the number of students that we serve, the number of sections that we offer."

For Cochran-based Middle Georgia College, a 5 percent reduction would equal about $950,000, she said.

Potential cuts for the college include expenses related to the college's operations, supplies and travel, she said. Some vacant positions may not be filled, but at this point, the college is not considering layoffs, she said. The college already has reserved some money in anticipation of a poor economy, she said.

Lee Fruitticher, associate vice president for business affairs at Gordon College, said the cuts were anticipated. The economy is in poor shape, and the regents encouraged colleges to build up a reserve to prepare for such cuts, he said. Gordon has 3 percent in reserves, he said.

Any additional cuts will be made through the freezing of vacant positions, he said.

Fruitticher did not say how much a 5 percent reduction would mean to Gordon, explaining that he was reluctant to go into a lot of detail before the regents examine the Barnesville college's plan.

"This is just a plan," he said. "It's nothing set in stone."

Officials at Macon State College also declined to go into detail, although noting that a 5 percent budget reduction would amount to a cut of $1.2 million in state dollars.

At Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, a 5 percent reduction would amount to just more than $1.8 million, spokesman Bryan Jackson said.

Planned savings include not filling currently vacant positions or creating new positions, as well as making operations run more efficiently, he said.

"Overall, we don't think we will have to do any layoffs of current employees, at least that's the goal," he said.

"We're still in the process of trying to figure out what we can do."

Officials at Fort Valley State University were not prepared to comment Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 744-4345.