The Student Services Finance Committee amended and approved FH King’s budget for the 2020 fiscal year and heard the proposed budgets for the Student Leadership Program and Associated Students of Madison Thursday evening.
After making several amendments, SSFC passed an FH King budget of $84,386 by a vote of 12-0-1. FH King is a student organization that works to promote sustainable agriculture.
Several representatives voiced their approval despite concerns that FH King returned over 20 percent of their approved budget last year. Rep. Cooper Beckwith said the group had taken measures to amend administrative issues from the previous year.
“There were some areas that were a little bit concerning such as the underspending some of the summer, but because this was not really consistent across the board, and they did show plans to spend [the budget] efficiently … In the future I feel pretty confident in their abilities,” Beckwith said.
The most notable amendment to the budget was an increase of the fringe budget from $0 to $1,500. Beckwith clarified that the group had forgotten to include the measure when they had proposed their budget.
SSFC also voted to decrease the amount of paid work weeks allotted to summer gardeners from 15 weeks to 13 weeks in a vote of 3-1-9. Rep. Landon Tselepis, who proposed the amendment, said he had discussed the change with FH King’s finance director, who approved the change. Tselepis said the move would account for the two weeks or so that most workers spend on vacation in the summer months.
SLP requested a budget of $53,512.50 for the 2020 fiscal year, the same amount proposed by the group last year. The group removed a total of $650 from their printing, kickoff event and transportation funds and added the money into their supply funds and various event funds.
Student Council approves ASM internal budget of more than $1.2 million
SSFC also reviewed ASM’s internal budget.
Notably, SSFC discussed the decision to allocate $14,259 for Grant Allocation Committee members in the 2019 fiscal year budget. Rep. Matt Carpenter asked ASM Chair Billy Welsh if he believed members of GAC should be paid. Welsh said he did not think so and that there had not been an indication that the money had any significant impact on the group’s merit. Amending the budget would not go against precedent because this was the first year that the group had been paid, he added.
“This is the only committee within our budget where we have paid our committee members,” Welsh said. “I don’t think the argument that GAC should be paid because SSFC is paid is really valid because there is a different level of workload.”
ASM adjusted their internal budget to include an anticipated $100,000 return. SSFC Chair Jeremy Swanson said groups had historically returned as much as 50 percent of their requested budget. Historically, the problem had been dealt with by reducing the amount of money given to student organizations, but this did not address the core issue and still resulted in a large return. Swanson said the adjustment allowed ASM to give away grant money while also reducing segregated fees.
SSFC will debate and vote on the ASM internal budget Monday.
