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Recent budget cuts have forced ABAC to solicit bids from private companies to handle maintenance, facilities, grounds, and custodial functions on campus.

In fall 2003, ABAC's share of the total state budget cuts for will be about $1.9 million.

"This is a monstrous figure to comprehend for a college our size," President Mike Vollmer said.

The state of Georgia has been faced with a revenue shortfall for what has now turned out to be 36 months and ABAC is not the only school in Georgia that has been hit by these devastating budget slashes.

The decision to privatize was made in an attempt to pull the budget cuts away from the classroom.

"This comes as no easy decision due to the fact that we have many dedicated and loyal ABAC employees who will be directly impacted by this decision," Vollmer said.

When all of these reductions have been made, ABAC will have reduced its staff by about 33 percent.

ABAC's attempt to privatize is considered to be a non-traditional approach among Georgia colleges.

Interested firms visited the campus last week and will be making bids at the end of April.

The successful bidder will be chosen based on qualifications and cost, and will be selected by the Department of Administrative Services in mid-May.

The Department of Administrative Services will be looking at a potential bidder with a reliable and well-respected history. When considering the bid, ABAC will be looking to see who will provide the college with the best quality of service for the most cost effective price.

"Our goal is to squeeze out cost savings and, at the same time, maintain a high quality of operations in each of these impacted areas," Vollmer said.

Aside from privatizing, ABAC has also had to find other places to cut services. To date, the college has eliminated about 10 percent of the staff positions. ABAC has also cut funding in many different areas of the campus. It has not yet had to cut teaching faculty

"We may be cutting services, but we have tried to do the least amount of harm in the classroom," Vollmer said.

In this current year alone, ABAC has experienced $1.3 million in state budget cuts, with an expected $125,000 in additional cuts mandated by the Governor in the near future.

The only positive factor is the funding the college has gained from the enrollment growth.

Other divisions of ABAC will also be experiencing massive downsizing due to the budget cuts. Aspects of ABAC's maintenance, which includes the Physical Plant, will be affected by these cuts.

The president has recently announced that more jobs will be lost among these areas.

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