Opinion

A raise for SSFC

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Related stories:

• $$FC (December 6, 2007)
• Limiting the spending spree (November 11, 2001)
• Students' surplus (June 20, 2001)
• The saga continues (November 10, 2003)
• Paying three to do the work of one (October 10, 2001)

Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

• The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
• The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
• Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
• Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)

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Sigh.

Our student government is tumbling down a slippery slope of its own making.

Last night, the Student Services Finance Committee — the student committee that approved a record increase in student organization budgets — approved a whopping 774 percent budget hike for itself. If percentages aren’t your strong suit, try this: This year, SSFC spent $6,350. Next year, they’ll spend $48,555.

The new money will go to fund two financial staff specialists at nearly $13 an hour and a 75 percent raise for the committee chair.

Why the increase? In voting to give itself more money, SSFC said it needed extra staff to sort through all the paperwork inevitable after the student org budget hikes.

While we had no intention of writing nearly as much about segregated fees as we did this semester, we were continually surprised at student government’s willingness to gouge an apathetic student body. Mushrooming segregated fees are an issue UW will have to face, whether it is decided before a federal court, the Board of Regents, or at the ASM ballot box next spring.

As we have often commented, the segregated fee process this fall was a joke, albeit an expensive one. As we prepare for winter break, the $6,350 that funded the process this semester, and the $48,555 that will oil it next year, is the obvious seg fee abuse of the week.

In our opinion, it’s the worst abuse yet.