The Observer, September 29, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 5
USG Budget disappoints students
USG recently approved its budget for the 2006-2007 school year, but the plan hasn't met with approval from some students on campus.
The major point of contention is the allotment of $15,000 for renovations to the USG office.
According to David Gasser, VP of finance for USG, there was student group input into this decision.
"Exec wanted to get groups more involved and into the office," said Gasser. "The office was not well set up before, with desks that no one used and lots of wasted space."
USG contacted organization leaders to find out what they wanted to see in the office. Students asked for several improvements including more storage, more lounge space, and a conference area for larger meetings.
Gasser checked the budget and found rollover money left from last semester that could be put toward the office renovation.
"The $15,000 price came directly from the amount of rollover money we had," said Gasser. "It is by no means an estimate of the actual cost of the improvements."
The price tag should be closer to $7000 in the end, according to Gasser. The remaining money from the allotment will go back into the budget to fund student groups for next semester.
Of USG's $250,000 budget for this school year, $202,500, or 81 percent, is earmarked for external funding, including $180,100 for student organization funding and $22,400 for the Class Officer Collective. This shows a marked increase from last year's $154,000 set aside for external funding, which amounted to 79 percent of the total budget.
The remaining money includes the $15,000 for office renovations and $32,500 for internal spending, down from $40,200 of last year's budget.
"We often hear that USG spends too much money on itself," said Gasser. "We took a good look at our budget and made cuts so that we could focus more on student groups."
Most of the internal budget goes toward office supplies, copying costs, advertising and other promotional materials, and various IT projects for the USG website. There is also an allotment of $10,000 dedicated to covering additional operating expenses and funding requests as determined by the Executive Committee.
USG receives the second-largest portion of money raised by the Student Activities Fee. UPB receives the most, followed by USG, Media Board, IFC/Panhel, Senior Week, Springfest, and the Class Officers Collective.
