Following last Wednesday’s FUSA budget meeting, President Hutchinson Williams held a second open forum Monday night for representatives from any FUSA branch as an opportunity to voice questions or suggestions concerning specific funds.
On Sunday evening, the budget proposed by Williams will be put to a Yes/No vote in front of the FUSA Senate.
While the Senate will not be permitted to propose changes to specific monetary allocations, members will be allowed to question the motives behind budget increments.
Williams outlined the organization’s 2006 budget, announcing that overall, the allocation of funds will remain the same.
Because FUSA encountered very few problems in the budget that needed to be fixed, the 2006-2007 budget breakdown looks very familiar, with a total allowance of $263,500.
The biggest change was a cut in FUSA’s lecture budget, which will drop from $17,000 to $12,000 next year. This section of FUSA goes to special programs such as psychic researchers The Warrens and “Real World” cast member appearances.
Williams said that although the cut looks large on paper, FUSA plans to have more co-sponsored events with academic groups, other student organizations and possibly the dean of students.
The money cut from the lecture budget in addition to the $500 cut from the executive cabinet fund will be re-allocated to several other branches. Appropriation for general events will increase from $57,950 to $58,900, and the concert stipend will increase from $21,000 to $23,000 next year.
In addition, the Student Senate budget will increase from $1500 to $2500, with the added money used specifically for senator training.
The concert budget has not been raised enough to bring in a bigger act, but FUSA hopes it will be enough to offset some of the costs that students pay directly. FUSA officers were disappointed that they had to charge $20 for the recent Dashboard Confessional concert and hope to keep that number down to $15 for future venues, Williams said.
The overall budget number is generated by multiplying an arbitrary number of students, 3100, by a portion of the student general fee.
The $85 cut taken by FUSA from the student general fee is paid each year by students along with tuition to fund events and programs on campus.
This year, Williams hopes to reinforce that dollar amount through increased fundraising, which he will encourage among FUSA branches, class councils and student clubs.
At the budget meeting, he spoke of working with the budget FUSA was given not just to take out and spend money, but also to bring money in.
“Not a lot has changed,” said Senate member Ashley Toombs ’07. “But Hutch has done a good job of allocating funds to where they need to go. I’m very happy.”
Leave a Reply