By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor
The 85th Students’ Association Congress approved the Fall 2007 Budget and all officer and representative appointments in its inaugural meeting Wednesday.
Sophomore senator David Vanderpool debated the appointment of officers with no previous Congress experience. According to the bylaws, all undergraduates who pay a student activity fee are members of the Students’ Association and eligible to be appointed.
Neither Isaac Vasquez, chief communications officer, nor Sarah Newton, executive secretary, has previous Congress experience. SA executive president Matt Worthington said he would vouch for both appointments.
“They’ve worked very, very hard and are very, very qualified,” he said.
With many of the representatives appointed and ineligible to vote until approved, Congress voted to approve all appointments with 19 approving and one vote abstaining.
Congress approved the Fall 2007 budget with 39 votes approving and one abstaining, acknowledging its ability to review and amend the budget later.
With an $11,560 rollover from last year and $35 per undergraduate student from the student activity, SA’s total revenue is about $146,000.
Executive treasurer Kevan Kirksey said an executive officer student initiative fund was created this year to allow the Cabinet to fund projects for its constituents. SA used money from the fund to sponsor Welcome to Abilene in August. The fund has $2,750; class senators are allotted $250 and Congress is allotted $4,000 for its Congressional project budget.
In an effort to cut expenses, Cabinet members opted to stay in Abilene for the Cabinet retreat, cutting expenses to about $250 this year compared with about $2,200 spent on the retreat last fall, Worthington said.
“We’re choosing to spend our money differently,” he said.
The extra funds could be used in part to purchase a Macintosh computer for the chief communications officer to use for graphic and Web design, Worthington said. Currently, design is outsourced. The office also purchased a new computer, equipping each Cabinet member with a computer.
In further effort to cut expenses, Worthington said SA has made a commitment to stay in homes rather than hotels for retreats in the future.
Other SA expenses include executive officer scholarships, appointed officer scholarships, about $8,700 for internal operations expenses and student organization funds.
Kirksey said this year about 42 organizations requested more than $130,000, which he said is the highest number in SA history.
Congress appropriated about $60,500 to student organizations, about 47 percent of requested funds.
When appropriating funds to student organizations, Kirksey and chief financial officer Spencer Hemphill applied the budgetary principles and met with organization leaders to review requests. Organizations can also petition the appropriations committee for funding or meet with chief advancement officer Ryan Stephen to plan fundraising and explore grant options.
According to the budgetary principles, SA will fund $150 per airline ticket, 41.5 cents per mile for gasoline, $65 per night for hotels and 50 percent of registration, conference and charter fees, among other guidelines. SA does not fund clothing or internal social club functions.
Requests are viewed line by line, Kirksey said, and once approved, organizations do not receive a lump sum, but instead obtain a P-Card from the SA office, which acts as a credit card during the time the organization needs the funds.
Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) received the largest sum with about $4,700, 30 percent of funds requested. The National Broadcasting Society received about $3,900, in part to fund new cameras, and Hispanos Unidos received about $3,700, including the cost of the Mariachi band for Entra a la Plaza on Friday.
Ryan Stephen, chief advancement officer, said he will work with organizations to find outside sources of funding to supplement the funds, with the hope of freeing up more SA money for students.
