The Associated
Students of Madison's Student Services Finance Committee approved its own
$18,300 budget Monday, including a $40 weekly stipend for members who attend
the mandatory two meetings per week.
SSFC chair Alex
Gallagher proposed a budget that was increased from previous years by proposing
a $40 stipend given weekly to members of the committee. Members would receive
the payment based on whether they attended the meetings and if they seemed to
have participated and been prepared for them.
The budget,
including the stipend, passed with a decisive vote of 5-0, with three
abstaining.
Gallagher made
several points in defense of his proposed budget, saying the stipend would
attract and maintain strong members on the council, a problem which the SFCC
has dealt with historically.
He said in his
proposal that the stipend would be too low to attract people who would just be
on the council for money, but is large enough to "reimburse" less financially
fortunate members of the committee who could have spent the roughly six to 12
hours a week both in and out of session required to be an active member
differently.
SSFC secretary Kurt
Gosselin disagreed with the proposed stipend.
"I do believe that
our members deserve compensation for their work," Gosselin said in a phone
interview after the meeting. "But I have qualms about approving salaries when
we are the ones receiving them."
Other members of
the committee agreed with Gosselin, feeling as though the action might be
interpreted as lining their own pockets. Dissenters insisted that a proposal be
made to the Student Council to approve the stipends, so that SFCC would not be
responsible for its own salary increase.
This proposal had
the stipend initially removed from the budget by a vote of 2-1, with five
abstaining, lowering the SFCC budget from $18,300 to $13,725.
SSFC member
Brittany Weigand reintroduced the proposal, feeling as though the Student Council
did not understand the duties of SFCC members, opening up the possibility that
it would not approve the proposal at all.
"A previous speaker
had the concern that the council may not have any idea what we do, and I
promise you that they absolutely do not," Weigand said. "I think it's an issue
in ASM to know what other committees are doing."
The approved budget
will next go into committee to work out the finer details, and the stipends
could be removed by senior members of the committee.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, this article should have cited SSFC.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, this article should have said the vote
to eliminate the original stipend was 4 to 3, with 2 abstaining, with
Alex Gallagher voting in affirmative. The proposed $18,300 was cut and
later replaced with a $13,725 member stipend, which was reintroduced
by Jordan Lippert, not Brittany Weigand, and passed by a vote of 5 to
3. We regret these errors.