Georgia Perimeter College will lay off about 185 people to close what could be a $25 million deficit next year.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty will be exempt from layoffs, but they will teach more courses. More students will be crammed into classrooms. And the college will hold off buying new computers and upgrading its network as part of an eight-step plan Interim President Rob Watts released Friday.
"Staff will need to stretch to take up the slack that will be created," Watts wrote in an email to faculty and staff. "My focus will be on our access mission and on preserving academic and instructional quality."
Questions remain over how the two-year college dug itself into this financial mess.
The college has been overspending for the past four years, according to state audits and university system analysis reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The school depleted its reserves to balance the books, leaving little money to bail itself out this time.
Auditors from the University System of Georgia are investigating the school's internal controls and how it recorded and communicated financial information, according to emails and documents the AJC obtained through an Open Records request. The system's chief auditor wrote the college failed to conduct regular audit reports.
State auditors will also review the school's books. And the Attorney General's Office is reviewing the situation because former President Anthony Tricoli alleged "fraudulent behavior by key financial personnel." Watts has since brought in new financial officers.
Georgia Perimeter is on track to end the current fiscal year with a shortfall of nearly $16 million. The deficit will worsen when the new fiscal year starts July 1. It will grow to $25 million because the college must close the deficit and repay what it borrows to make sure the books are balanced by June 30. Next year's budget is $195.7 million.
Layoffs will save about $10.7 million, Watts wrote. This step was expected since university system leaders wrote that the college's "employment levels are far higher than they should be." The college employs about 3,110 people, including 390 tenure and tenure-track faculty.
Here are other savings:
* Reduce operating expenses by $5.9 million. This includes cutting advertising, eliminating most travel, scaling back convocation and similar events and delaying computer purchases and network upgrades.
* Reallocate $3.25 million in new money toward deficit. This money was intended for new labs at the Alpharetta campus and to expand online learning and military outreach programs. It also includes money from a tuition increase that goes into effect this fall.
* Eliminate vacant positions and continue the hiring freeze to save $1.5 million.
* Reduce spending on part-time staff to save $2.1 million. The college can't eliminate all part-time staff because the tutoring center and other areas depend on them, Watts wrote.
* Increase teaching loads to save about $1 million. Faculty will teach more classes and some administrators -- including the president -- will be expected to teach.
Watts warned that the plan may need to be refined partly because leaders don't know how the deficit will affect enrollment. Tuition makes up a large part of a college's revenue.
The college may implement furloughs if enrollment drops, Watts wrote. Georgia Perimeter is the state's third-largest public college, teaching nearly 27,000 students at sites in Alpharetta, Clarkston, Covington, Decatur and Dunwoody.
Faculty and staff privately say they're furious to have to suffer through the fall out of a situation they didn't create, but few are willing to discuss it publicly. Many blame Tricoli, the former president.
Some described Tricoli as "visionary" but others said they "do not trust" him and that he created a "climate of fear and frustration," according to emails sent to Chancellor Hank Huckaby.
Tricoli has referred all media questions to his attorney, who did not return phone calls. Tricoli wrote in emails that he never agreed to "step down" as the college president, but did accept moving to the central office.
The State Board of Regents did not renew Tricoli's annual contract and his last day is June 30.
Georgia Perimeter College and State University." The regents were considering name changes for some two-year schools, but Tricoli was told becoming a university was not an option.
"Are you sure?" Tricoli wrote back. "Let's please think big for Georgia."
Today Georgia Perimeter is thinking about who will get laid off and how to eliminate a deficit.
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