In an effort to ensure fiscal responsibility, Student Services Finance Committee made minimal changes to the Associated Students of Madison Internal Budget and moved to finalize their decisions at their next meeting.
After months of meetings and heated debates, the ASM Internal Budget is reaching its final stages and ASM Chair Tyler Junger charged the committee in open forum with maintaining their responsibilities in finalizing a truly fiscally responsible budget.
“I think Student Council is the legislative authority of what happens in ASM,” Junger said. “And I think it’s SSFC’s job to look at it and ask if it’s responsible. [We must] make sure we’re not using student segregated fees in a manner we’re not supposed to use them.”
SSFC Rep. Andrea Nichols asked Junger if he could name two line items on the budget that could be cut in half.
Junger said he believed there would be a lot of conversation over the Tenant Housing Services portion of the budget, which is currently set at $50,000.
“Council has discussed it and has it in there, so be very careful about pulling it,” Junger said. “Otherwise, my goal for the computer funds was that we wouldn’t end up out of date, but it would be possible to cut it down from $4,000.”
SSFC cut computer equipment funds to $3,000, with Nichols citing it was enough to rotate a few of the pieces of equipment in the office while remaining updated and downloading some new programs on the computers.
After much contention, $10,000 was moved from Travel Grants to Operations Grants under the Finance committee’s budget. The original debate stemmed from whether to add more funds instead of merely moving them from existing funds.
“I’m not OK with adding more funds,” Nichols said. “There are always more that you can give to campus. Charging a dollar here, another dollar there. It’s not where it’s going for, but where do we draw the line of what we’re taking from students [segregated fees] to provide for them.”
SSFC Secretary Matt Manes said he felt no matter how much money they put towards these grants, it obviously could be used up by groups requesting money. However, a certain level of funding is needed to be set for these groups.
“When these groups receive money, they have an expected presence on campus; expected events they put on,” Manes said. “The reason Finance is asking for more is because they ‘expect’ groups will come asking for more. We don’t just increase funds because certain people want more.”
SSFC Vice Chair Michael Romenesko said by moving money from travel to operating grants, it would bring more opportunities to groups and students on campus instead of sending students away on trips.
The Creative Work Fund was also decreased from $5,000 to $3,000, just enough the committee felt it would take to fund approximately 10 approved projects of varying size.
Funds for the ASM textbook swap’s equipment increased from $500 to $1,500 due to this year’s success.
Overall, the committee decreased the budget approximately $500, but would finish the debate over salaried positions and the Tenant Housing Services at their Monday, Feb. 1 meeting.
