GSS passes budget, UHR to follow next week

Each year, student organizations across campus submit budget proposals to SGA in order to request funding for the upcoming fiscal year. SGA is responsible for funding large organizations like the CRC and the Student Center, the Technique and WREK Radio, and smaller organizations like sports and special interest clubs. This year, total budget requests for all of these organizations exceeded $5.4 million. SGA has set an allocation goal of $4.6 million.

On Tuesday, March 11, the UHR held its second in a series of meetings designed to review these budget requests and strike any unnecessary requests. The GSS completed its review process in a single meeting last Wednesday. When the UHR version of the budget is finished, a conference committee comprised of members of both houses will meet to reconcile differences and produce a final budget.

In order to meet its allocation goal, SGA will have to cut $800,000 from various organizations. The Joint Finance Committee gets the first look at the budget request and makes certain recommendations for cuts based on its policy—like limiting travel funding and limiting the number of events or competitions that SGA can fund for a single organization—as well as other cuts. With JFC recommendations in place, the budget stood at about $4.9 million.

Charlie Crosson, President of the JFC, explained the rationale for some of the other cuts.

“We try to scrutinize any large increases from the previous year. If an organization can justify asking for more funds, we’ll approve it, but otherwise, we try to keep all their line items at their prior year amounts,” Crosson said.

In the budget process and during the rest of the year, SGA encourages organizations to look for outside sources of funding and decrease their dependence on SGA.

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