Confirming his intentions expressed earlier in the week to overturn two budget decisions made by student government, Interim Chancellor David Ward put forth his final decision Friday afternoon.
In a letter to Associated Students of Madison Student Council Chair Allie Gardner and Student Services Finance Committee Chair Sarah Neibart, who each approved this year’s segregated fee budget within their branches of government, Ward indicated his final decision to fully fund the non-allocable budgets of the Wisconsin Union and Recreational Sports. He said he is accepting “the vast majority” of ASM’s proposed 2012-13 fiscal year budget.
Ward said in his letter that it serves as his final decision on the segregated fee budget, which he will present to the Board of Regents in April as required. Ward’s letter came after he and Neibart met on Wednesday to discuss their conflicting views on the budget.
Ward’s decision comes as no surprise, Neibart said, since he had already indicated his intentions earlier in the week. She said she will be sending an appeal by the April 1 due date, at which point UW System President Kevin Reilly will either decide to deny or approve the appeal. She said even if it is denied, she can just take it straight to the Board of Regents.
“The regents have never denied a students’ appeal before,” she said.
In his letter, Ward said he will accept the Wisconsin Union budget as proposed with an increase of 3 percent plus $5, as well as the Recreational Sports budget as proposed. In a previous letter sent to Neibart and Gardner, Ward said providing no budget increase to either group would result in a loss of services and present “untenable choices.”
Neibart previously said SSFC’s reason for disapproving both budgets came down to a lack of transparency surrounding where funds were going in both budgets. She said the committee gave both groups an opportunity to provide more information, but neither ultimately did.
Ward also outlined the agreement reached regarding allocable budgets of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztl?n and Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group in his letter. He said he and Neibart came to an agreement to keep MEChA’s line item for off-campus space and WISPIRG’s professional staff line item, as long as the amounts for each are not included in the overall segregated fee budget.
The agreement for these stipulates that if either of these items ends up needing funding, ASM will fund the expenditures through reserves.
Neibart said this agreement was a compromise and that technically Ward did not have the authority to completely strike the items as he had previously indicated without consulting with her.
Ward’s letter also includes the agreement reached regarding the allocable segregated fee budget for the Student Transportation Board, for which Ward said he will provide funding at a level of 47 percent of the cost of the current level of service.
He also acknowledged a memorandum provided by the Student Transportation Board, which said that the campus contribution to bus pass funding must not increase and that it should decline as UW Transportation Services looks at options to make this possible.
