SGA Sound-Off: Finances, MiddView & Fighting Gastro
In a nearly two-hour long meeting, the SGA was the place to be tonight! SGA Finance Committee Chair Scott Klenet ’12 presented the Finance Committee Mid-Year Report, followed by a discussion and vote on the MiddView Revision Bill, and discussion and vote on the Gastroentitis Resolution. Two additional resolutions (Book Reserve Resolution and International Financial Aid Resolution) were tabled until the next meeting. So here’s the scoop:
I. Mid-Year SGA Finance Committee Report
Finance Committee (FC) Chair Scott Klenet ’12 and several members of the FC were present to discuss the Mid-Year Report. (This will be emailed to all-students shortly, so stay on the lookout!) In summary: we’re looking pretty good. With an operating budget of over $1.085 million, the FC has over-budgeted from their actual revenues ($950,000), but this has historical precedent and Klenet made clear was not a cause for concern. Many student organizations do not fully spend allocations for the year, and will return money into the reserves, thus making up for this gap. The reserves stands at approximately $413,000, however by the end of the year Klenet expects that the total reserves amount will be between $325,000 to $350,000.
Klenet countered the stereotype that the Finance Committee is a group of “Soul-less misers who don’t like to let out funds…,” showing a graph of average allocations given from the Finance Committee per week. “Hopefully this graph will show us that we’re not like that… we’ve seen a lot of great presentations, a lot of thoughtful understanding as far as what organizations really need.”
Klenet presented the Senate with the amount the Finance Committee has allocated groups in the fall (New Budget Requests), as well as additional funding requests groups received (New Money). An interesting trend Klenet addressed is that of Student Org expenditures being quite low. While Student Organizations received $583,490 for their fall allocations, $314,454 of that allocation remains unspent. Regarding how much the Finance Committee expects to see returned by the end of the year (in the case of increased spring programming perhaps), Klenet explained that it’s tricky to predict, but that “we [SGA Finance Committee] expect a lot of money to come back to us this year, for better or for worse.”
II. MiddView Bill Revisions:
Senator Michael Polebaum ’12 presented the MiddView Revision Bill (co-sponsored by Senators Brittany Gendron ’12 (full disclosure: this being myself) and Luke Carroll Brown ’13.5). In a nearly hour long discussion, the floor was ceded to all senators, though primarily to Dean of Students Katy Smith Abbott, SGA Finance Committee Chair Scott Klenet ’12, Senators Carroll Brown ’13.5, myself (Senator Gendron ’12) Nathan LaBarbara ‘14, Joanie Thompson ‘14, Danny Zhang ’15, former Senator Charlie Arnowitz ’13, and Mountain Club Treasurer Caroline Santinelli ’14.
