Keeley Sheehan
Managing Editor
Student Government passed the 2011-12 Activities and Services fee budget during the general senate meeting on April 6. SG allocated a total of $1,104,000—a $53,100 increase from last year.
SG debated the budget during committee meetings for about two weeks. SG President James Scott first presented the budget to the senate on March 23.
Departments that receive A&S fees submitted budget requests last month. The Appropriations Committee worked through the budget to make recommendations based on these requests and each department’s needs.
The committee did not change the Harborside Activities Board, the office of Multicultural Affairs and The Crow’s Nest’s requested budgets, according to Jovanna Guevara, chair of the Appropriations Committee. The committee made cuts to the Student Government budget. All other requested budgets were increased before going to the general senate.
The 2011-12 budget shows an increase in most departments from the 2010-11 budget, according to SG budget documents available online through Google Docs. The documents are not currently available on the SG website. The Student Life budget decreased 1.11 percent from this year’s budget to next year’s, and SG’s budget decreased 2.04 percent.
Appropriations recommended $37,000 for the clubs and organization line in SG’s budget. The clubs and organizations line had $20,000 in the 2010-11 budget, which had been a decrease from $30,000 in the 2009-10 budget.
Since the senate passed the budget, it will now go back to Scott to sign or veto.
Scott said during the April 6 meeting that the budget process “went well” this year.
“This was the cleanest, most civil budget process,” Scott said. “This is hard to achieve.”
