Starting fall 2008, the Associated Students of Madison will begin paying each committee member of the Student Services Finance Committee, the group that distributes $19 million in funding for student organizations.

ASM?s Student Council ultimately decided Tuesday to pay the members of SSFC for the 15 to 20 hours of work they put into the committee each week.

?We are going to have about 15 members [on the SSFC committee] next year,? ASM Chair Gestina Sewell said. ?They would get $20 per meeting based off of attendance. They would have to be at the meeting for opening role call and closing role call, meaning they would have to stay for the whole meeting.?

Sewell said that this has been approved in the ASM budget as $18,000, and each member of the committee would only be allowed to accrue $1200 per year of service. SSFC members serve a two-year term.

Student Council debated heavily on this issue, more than other recent proposals, according to Student Judiciary Chief Justice Sol Grosskopf.

The committee is concerned with making this step for a number of reasons, Grosskopf said. Among these is the size of the fiscal move they have to make to start paying them.

Student Council was also concerned that this could potentially lead other committees to ask for pay.

?It?s a question of fairness,? Grosskopf said.

But Sewell said the reasoning behind their decision is to make sure that ASM is recruiting and retaining quality SSFC members. The council hoped that pay would help make up for the committee members not having other jobs.

?They do have a lot more preparation to do [than some other committees],? Sewell said. ?The hope is that when there is people who are committed and prepared, there can be better discussion.?

Sewell said the council did not make the decision easily. The council didn?t want to send the message that they think what SSFC does is more important than the other committees. But the council needs more consistency in the quality of the committee members, she said.