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Committee could alter budget cycle
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by Nick Penzenstadler
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
During its spring session, a University of Wisconsin student financing group might radically change its policies regarding budgets for more than 700 student organizations on campus.
The Student Services Finance Committee met Monday night, when Chair Zach Frey first introduced the idea of changing the budget cycle for organizations receiving money from the General Student Service Fund from one year to two years.
"[Currently, organizations] turn in a one-year budget proposal, and we do budget hearings for every single group," Frey said.
Instead of the current system, student groups would need to prepare itemized budgets for two years of events and projects for hearings in the fall.
SSFC representative David Lapidus said the proposal, which will be discussed at Thursday's meeting, has its "ups and downs."
"There are a great deal of advantages and disadvantages," Lapidus said. "But like any government policy, it's not all good or all bad."
Lapidus said the committee would address the concern of leadership turnover for groups trying to draft their budgets.
Mike Dattner, treasurer for Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, said the proposed policy would be an ill-advised decision.
"I think it would be a pretty horrible idea," Dattner said. "The biggest issue with it is the students won't be there two years later. Right now there's already people leaving, but two years wouldn't even be legal."
Lapidus said they will "hash out" all the details for the proposal along with several other changes to its policies in the coming months.
"We'll wait for feedback to work out the details," Lapidus said. "Whether it's a good idea or not — I don't know."
Some organizations already struggle to plan ahead even one year under the current system, however, and tacking on another year would make things even more "interesting," Dattner said.
Dattner added the vagueness of a budget could allow for wiggle room, but groups would still face a challenge under a change in policy.
"I think it's unbelievably hard [with only one year]," Dattner said. "One of the ways CFACT puts up with it is because [our budget is] more vague, but we are still spending in the categories properly — we're a little more flexible."
Lapidus said SSFC would also be looking to address group accountability and its attendance policy during its spring session.
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