The Associated Students of Madison requested over $ 1 million for their internal budget at a meeting with the Student Services Finance Committee Thursday.

In their presentation, ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand and Vice Chair Hannah Karns explained the list of priorities used to establish the guide for their internal budget.

According to Wiegand, ASM hopes to allocate the funds to human capital investments, operations grants, event and travel grants, committee training and programming, and support for students with disabilities.

Their request of $1,034,795.13 has decreased 2.39 percent from the approved 2009 fiscal year budget of $1,058,837.00, Wiegand added.

Representative Tyler Junger asked Wiegand if there was a particular line item she was concerned about in the budget the committee should pay special attention to.

Wiegand said careful attention should be paid to staff salaries and computer equipment, and possible cuts could be made in the travel fund line item.

“Even though we increased staff salary by 3 percent, I still think it is underfunded for staff salary equity,” said Wiegand.

Wiegand added though she agrees with giving students a chance to travel, she would prefer allocating more resources to encouraging students to take part in events on campus.

ASM also called for an increase in funding for students with disabilities. The group is currently providing support for students with special needs, such as McBurney students, and hopes to increase funding for the high cost of interpreters to increase participation from students with language barriers.

SSFC Chair Kurt Gosselin said he was very pleased with the budget discussion and looks forward to the final budget decision being held next Monday.

Karns also discussed the outcome of ASM’s third semiannual textbook swap at Thursday’s meeting.

“In the ASM book swap, over 600 books were dropped off. Over $10,000 was saved,” Karns said. “I think the book swap is growing. I heard about long lines. Publicity for the event is really getting out there.”