Student Services Finance Committee set forth its internal budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year and the requested budget for 2010-11, enumerating their salaries, supplies and services Thursday night.
The budget approved for fiscal year 2009-10 amounted to $161,524, and the requested amount for next year came to $163, 446. Increases in the budget came from the $3,000 increase in salaries to accommodate state budget cuts and a $5,000 allocation to the “21st Century Fee.”
According to Brandon Williams, SSFC chair, the budget had a 2 percent increase for the salary of the SSFC adviser from 2009-10. The salary was raised from $43,260 to $44,125 to accommodate state budget cuts as well.
Williams added the money was allocated to the adviser’s salary because the 2 percent increase will ultimately be taken back by the state, and SSFC wanted to keep the salary at the previous amount from the past year.
The increase of $5,000 to the 21st Century Fee, which assesses a fee for every employee who uses the university Internet, was added to the budget because the Offices of the Dean of Students doubts they can cover the fee in the coming school years as they have in the past. SSFC proposed the $5,000 as a safety net to cover the fee, according to SSFC Legal Counsel Kurt Gosselin.
All positions on the committee — including chair, vice chair and secretary — will receive the same stipend for 2010-11 as they receive in 2009-10.
“We’re still going to be working the same hours. The stipend keeps the positions as valuable as other on-campus jobs would be,” Vice Chair Michael Romenesko said.
Other branches of Associated Students of Madison have not increased their stipends for their committee members and, according to Williams, SSFC is following suit.
Advertising remained the same from 2009-10, which stands at $750 for the 2010-11 school year. Some of the budget will go toward advertising to make sure all committee positions get filled for 2010-11. It will also be used for “mixers” between General Student Services Fund groups and SSFC committee members.
“We want to make GSSF groups feel like we’re not ‘the man’ controlling the funds,” Williams said.
SSFC also published a letter to the Campus Women’s Center, which explained why SFFC was unable to reconsider CWC’s eligibility because of their inability to prove a procedural error on the part of SSFC.