ANDERSON, Ind. -- A company that is helping the state privatize aspects of its welfare system will bring 500 jobs to Anderson by 2010, the governor and the city's mayor said Tuesday.

Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. will hire 200 telecommunications and data operations specialists for a customer care center opening by the end of the year, officials said.

The center intends to add 300 jobs by 2010, officials said.

The jobs are coming to a city that was devastated by automotive job layoffs. Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith said he hopes other companies will follow ACS to Anderson.

"We have strung a fiber optic loop around the city, which has direct business applications, and I think that was one of the factors in ACS settling in Anderson," Smith said.

ACS is one company helping the state shift much of the application processes for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits from face-to-face visits to call centers, Web programs and other technologies.

ACS joins Nestle as a new employer in Anderson. Nestle broke ground on a $359 million beverage plant in August 2006 to make and distribute Nesquik and Coffee-Mate.