The Associated Students of Madison’s finance branch voted to approve the 2013-14 budget for a student organization centered on aiding sexual assault victims. 

University of Wisconsin ASM’s Student Services Finance Committee ultimately approved Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment’s budget by a vote of 11-0. 

SSFC representatives expressed concern with one aspect of PAVE’s budget that stipulated conference trips for members. 

SSFC Rep. Jeffrey Ehlers said he wanted to make sure the committee remained consistent with previous budget decisions they had made for other organizations regarding conference costs.

According to SSFC Chair Ellie Bruecker, PAVE’s approved budget could either provide funding for half of the staff to attend the conference in full or provide half of the funding that would be necessary to send all of the staff to the conference.

PAVE said in its proposal although the organization has ten staff members, only four were planning on attending the conference, a proposal SSFC considered practical. 

“If they are only planning on sending four, compared to the amount of staff they have, I think this is reasonable,” SSFC Rep. German Larrain said. 

SSFC Rep. Kyle Quagliana said he thinks it is necessary for PAVE members to attend the conference in order to stay up to date on the policies relevant to the organization.

Ultimately, the committee decided not to cut any requested funds for the program. PAVE’s final approved budget totaled $86,458.01.

SSFC also heard budget proposals from the Campus Women’s Center and Vets for Vets, but made decisions on neither case.

Vets for Vets Treasurer Dan Nelson proposed lowering its budget through changes in the student organization’s programming.

SSFC Rep. Tim Schildt expressed concern that the organization’s budget for supplies is low compared to previous years and said he was worried this would inhibit their ability to provide direct services.

Nelson said the organization requested fewer funds for supplies and furniture by 56 percent because the organization was well under budget in the previous year, noting members found ways to be more cost efficient with respect to supply use. 

During the meeting, Ehlers also expressed concern with several areas of the proposed budget for the Campus Women’s Center because they requested the same amount of funds for salaries, but did not spend the 34 percent of the amount they requested in the previous year.

Campus Women’s Center member Yier Yin explained the previous program coordinator was unable to fulfill the hours for their position and also did not work over the summer, resulting in the unspent funds. 

The organization now knows how much time people can devote to their job and can hire additional people to fulfill the workload, Yin said.

SSFC Rep. Devon Maier also questioned why the supply budget was not met previously.

Campus Women’s Center Volunteer Coordinator Kati Garness stressed that the organization plans to spend all the proposed funds for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

“It’s not that we need more supplies, but that we are trying to increase the span of our supplies,” Garness said.

The final budget decisions for Vets for Vets and the Campus Women’s Center will be made at an SSFC meeting on Thursday Oct. 25.