New budget system coming to SGA

Club budgets are in the hands of elected representatives this year as the Student Government Association begins its newly adopted budgeting procedure.

"It was a collaborative idea," Executive Vice President Rachel Keller said of the changes from last year. "We all knew that budgeting needed to be changed a little bit to become more efficient and unbiased and less personal, more business."

The finance committee, made up of all elected representatives, will look through each club's proposed budget for the next year and make reductions on items it deems unnecessary. This continues until the overall budget reaches the 'magic number' that the college has to offer clubs. That number is kept secret to avoid budget cuts for the sake of speeding up the process.

While the SGA executive board (made up by President John Kleinhans, Executive Vice President Keller, Administrative Vice President Dave Daly, and Financial Controller Nick Russo) will be able to attend the finance committee meetings and make suggestions, they are not voting members of the committee. The proposed budget created by the finance committee must be ready to be presented to the SGA body by the first week of March.

If club representatives disagree with the proposals made by the committee, the procedure will shift back to the ways of previous years, and phases of proposing cuts will begin among the entire SGA body. However, if clubs accept the terms set by the committee, they will be approved and move forward.

According to Keller, the decision to suggest changes in the budgeting procedure last year was a collaborative effort between herself, Kleinhans, then-president Andrew Chapin, Tim Cappalli and others. The previous procedure, which involved the entire SGA voting to cut items from each club's budget, often became emotional and lengthy, with some meetings lasting late into the evenings and early hours of the next day.

Last year, the SGA asked the student body to vote on the changes, which is required any time changes are proposed to the constitution. 10 percent is needed in order for a change to pass, and it did.

The new process is designed to eliminate biases from members of the SGA.

"They have to give us a list of any clubs that they're in and they're not allowed to vote on budgets of clubs they're in," Keller said. "That's how we're hoping to alleviate any kind of bias from the elected reps."

If this budgeting procedure is successful, it may continue into future years. However, a constitution committee is formed every spring, and any changes or suggestions may be brought forth at that time.