The Associated Students of Madison heard the proposal for the ASM internal budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year for the first time in a meeting Wednesday.
The current proposed ASM internal budget for the twentieth session of student council is $1,281,842.36.
Student Services Finance Committee Chair Ellie Bruecker and ASM Chair Andrew Bulovsky collaborated to draw up the budget proposal.
Bruecker said future student council budget planning is traditionally done solely by the ASM chair. However, she said she and Bulovsky thought it would be more beneficial to work on it together.
Bruecker said she would want to encourage ASM members to work to provide more for less money. She added with this budget, she wanted to put more pressure on student leaders to also do more for less.
Bruecker noted maintaining fiscal responsibility is valuable as long as student council is not sacrificing the quality for students and added that it is important to provide services to students for a little bit cheaper wherever possible.
“There are a lot of areas where if we really work on it, we could save some money,” Bruecker said.
Bulovsky said that a lot of what went into making this budget had to do with understanding the financial needs and concerns of students.
He stressed the importance of providing funding for a keynote speaker for Varsity Day, noting that $60,000 is proposed to be allocated for the speaker in the proposed budget.
Bulovsky said he believes the benefits of Varsity Day to be tenfold. He said one part of it is the importance to congratulate graduating seniors and also to say UW looks forward to seeing the undergraduate and graduate students the next fall.
He noted prominent speakers also reflect on the university’s reputation nationally.
“By bringing a high profile speaker, we are able to have these people come to the university and not only inspire students, but be there in recognition of this university and give the university more national clout,” Bulovsky said.
Bulovsky said he is optimistic that the proposed budget will pass.
