The General Assembly Finance Committee released the 2004-05 Student Confederation Budget Tuesday. Many programming events, such as Homecoming and Founders Day, had budget cuts while the Kennedy Political Union, Eagle Nights and Student Union Board all gained additional funding.
"There's only so much money to give out," SC President Nick Terzulli said. "Not everyone's going to be happy."
The several departments of the SC, AU's student government, presented their budget proposals for the next school year on Saturday, and the Finance Committee of the GA, the student legislature,p then decided on the way the funds would be dispersed. The results have drawn fire as several programming departments have faced steep budget cuts.
"Except for Eagle Nights ... our programming got slashed," SC Vice President Margueritte Meyer said. "It shows the GA are out of touch with the student body, because students go to programming."
As vice president, Meyer oversees the bulk of the SC programming, minus KPU and SUB. Each of her departments, with the exception of Eagle Nights, received budget cuts of 5 percent or more versus the previous year.
The largest cut came in the SC Founders Day ball. Founders Day received a budget of $29,700 for this year, but will only receive $20,000 for next year's ball. The low budget will make it difficult to hold the event, Meyer said.
"As it stands right now, Founders Day just couldn't happen," Meyer said.
The venue usually costs between $5,000 and $10,000, Meyer said. The 2004 Founders Day ball will be held in the East Hall of Union Station at a cost of $6,000.
The SC Community Service department will also have a smaller budget after requesting a 65 percent increase.
"I'm either going to have to cut back on the amount of programming I do or get more people involved in fundraising," Community Service Director Katie Cummings said. "We are one of the few SC departments that fund-raises."
Others gained from the allocations, including KPU, which received an additional $40,000 over last year's amount. KPU Director Eric Morley is happy with the budget allocation.
"KPU is trying to assert itself as a top of the line speaker series," Morley said. "If [next year's director] wants to go after a top of the line speaker for Family Weekend, they can do that now."
Morley contends that the budget increase is necessary to continue KPU's level of speakers and venues.
"Prices have gone up too. Top of the line speakers would cost around $100,000," Morley said. "To get Bender Arena, that's another thing. It's $1,500 a pop."
Morley was disappointed to see that Homecoming was cut. Meyer agreed with Morley's statement, especially considering the high attendance this past year.
The Finance Committee released a list of justifications for each department's allotment. Committee chairman Brad Vasoli and SC Comptroller Scott Rosen said each allocation dealt with the quality of the programming they had seen this year.
" I felt the budget allocations show that the work I'm doing and my cabinet is doing is not being appreciated by the GA," Meyer said. " My major concern is for the students and that the students needs are met."
Morley said the process is not supportive of the vice president's programming.
"This budget reflects some skepticism the Finance Committee had about programming in general," Morley said.
Although the allocations have been doled out, Rosen set aside $1,000 for appeals as part of the budget.
"This is the first year the Comptroller made recommendations so I set aside that amount for appeals," Rosen said. "It will be spent, no doubt about that."
SC departments have until 5 p.m. on Friday to appeal, Rosen said. The hearings will be held Monday or Tuesday evening.
Cummings is planning to appeal the decision, despite the possible battle for the few remaining funds among several groups.
"I think I'm still going to appeal because I want to express my concern at how the budget broke down," Cummings said.
