By Kelsi Peace, Features Editor
The Students’ Association unanimously approved the spring 2007 budget, accepted a resignation and appointed a new senior senator at Wednesday’s meeting.
The total revenue for the semester is estimated to be about $200,000, which includes about $78,000 rolled over from the fall semester. The $70 student activity fee paid each semester contributes to revenue.
Tyler Cosgrove, SA executive treasurer and senior financial management major from Amarillo, said $35,000 of the rollover will go into an SA endowment when it is established.
Last spring, the SA administration decided to establish an endowment and designated $15,000 to start it. SA has budgeted $20,000 for the endowment each semester this year. SA will use interest from the endowment to fund new initiatives for improving student life.
Legal documents and necessary procedures have delayed the endowment, Cosgrove said.
Six percent of revenue now is placed in a contingency account for future use, which is required for all departments on campus, and means about $16,000 will go into the account this semester.
Student organizations asked for about $102,500 with student budget requests. This semester Congress granted about $61,000; funds were distributed to organizations based on budgetary standards Cosgrove determined.
SA will pay up to $150 for airfare, 41.5 cents per mile for gas, $65 per night for a hotel and 50 percent of all registration, conference and charter fees. Other limits can be found in the budget. Personal items, such as T-shirts, will not be funded by SA.
Association for Computer Machinery, the Integrated Marketing Communication Organization, Spiritual Life Core, Spring Break Campaigns and Wildcat Kids received the full amount requested. The National Broadcasting Society received 20 percent of the nearly $21,500 it requested, the largest request Cosgrove said he had ever seen.
Cosgrove said some organizations did not receive any funds because it did not meet the timeline, attend a meeting with either Cosgrove or Kevan Kirksey, SA chief financial officer and sophomore financial management major from Tyler, or attend Invision, a leadership seminar.
Thirty-two organizations received funds for the spring semester, and this year, SA has given the largest amount to student organizations and student development projects, designating about $61,000 each semester compared with about $40,000 last spring.
The spring 2007 budget also allots $2,500 for Bean Sprout improvements because SA has been asked to help improve the sound system or the lighting, Cosgrove said.
A discretionary fund of $3,250 was included, which Cosgrove said is higher than the fall semester, along with a $725 budget for office improvements. The new Cabinet may make office improvements Cosgrove said, and SA is considering repainting its office or reupholstering the couches.
Congress had no qualms about the budget – all 39 members present passed it with no debate. Total expenses for spring 2007 will be about $132,000.
Students can view the budget in the SA office, and Cosgrove said it should be available online within the next few weeks.
Brent Fisher, University Park Apartments representative and junior history major from Grapevine, resigned from SA; Congress appointed Perry Harrison, junior English major from Gilmer, to replace Fisher, and Tiffany Gauntt, journalism major from Colleyville, as a senior senator.
