After projecting only $100,000 of carry-over funds for the 2005-06 academic year, the A.S. Council must now decide what to do with an unexpected windfall of an additional $103,198.95, an amount not included in the original budget.

The idea of carry-over funding is nothing new and is something that the council deals with each year, according to A.S. Vice President Finance Greg Murphy.

“A.S. has no way to estimate how much carry-forward [funding] we will have until all the final fiscal books are closed,” Murphy stated in an e-mail. “Our fiscal books close mid-summer and that’s when we know for sure how much will carry forward.

Our council this year did a great job in budgeting a conservative dollar amount for our carry-forward, and now we have the flexibility to put those funds back into the line items that we previously had to cut.”

The carry-forward in 2004-05 from the previous year was also larger than anticipated by about $121,000, according to Murphy.

The newfound funding presents a potential bone of contention as many A.S. senators want to see that money go to their preferred organizations.

In the original 2005-06 budget, the A.S. Council voted to spend more money on student organizations and less on A.S. Safe Rides than originally proposed by A.S. President Christopher Sweeten. Safe Rides, an A.S. service, formerly known as Triton Taxi, that provides free transportation home to intoxicated or otherwise stranded UCSD students, had its funding cut down $1,400, to $27,000, in order to add to annual event funding.

Thurgood Marshall College Senior Senator Kate Pillon, a proponent of A.S. Safe Rides, said she predicts that the program will be one of many considered when it comes to additional funding.

“Now that we have all the numbers from last year I think we will be able to better evaluate how much we need in the [Safe Rides] account this year,” Pillon stated in an e-mail. “If we were right about the prediction last year and we don’t need the $1,400, then there is no need to put it back there. All I am concerned about is that the program can run at its full capacity. … If that means allocating more money, that’s what I think we need.”

Murphy expects some senators to advocate giving more money to college councils or to fund more operations, such as student-initiated outreach and A.S. Safe Rides.

He said he hopes senators will vote for more funding for campus student organizations and the A.S. programming office to go toward events like the Sun God Festival.

“My basic concern is that if we decide to allocate more to our line items, that we do it fairly and consistently,” he said. “I also hope to see a large portion of the carry-forward stay in our general unallocated account to pay for those things that randomly come up in the middle of the year. I predict that the services for events [that] most directly affect the most number of students will see an increased allocation. ”

Pillon would like to see some money go into the student organizations unallocated line items, as that is a place in the budget where she sees financial gaps.

“Not only did we keep the line item roughly the same as last year, which doesn’t allow for the necessary growth that occurs every year in student organizations, but we are requiring the college festivals, Cultural Celebration and Excel Leadership conference to request out of it,” Pillon stated in an e-mail. “That’s over $30,000 worth of programs more that need to come out of the student orgs. unallocated line items, which stayed roughly the same as last year. It is just not enough to adequately support our student organizations and their events.”

Murphy attributes the larger-than-predicted carry-over to a variety of factors, including an increase in UCSD student enrollment, which automatically results in more income, and the fact that not all monies allocated in last year’s A.S. budget were completely spent.

“We allocate funds to hundreds of events and programs so it comes as no surprise to find that not all those events and programs spent their allocations in full,” Murphy said. “Whatever funds are not used automatically carry forward to the next fiscal year. More specifically, we had some staff salary carry forward because a couple of positions were not filled during certain periods of last year.”

One example of a program that spent less than allocated is student outreach, which is contributing $2,651.22 to this year’s carry-over.

The A.S. Council also voted last spring to eliminate stipends multiple positions, including the A.S. elections manager and all 24 A.S. senators.

“I would still like the majority of the money to stay in general unallocated, however … it is not necessary to spend money just because we have it,” Pillon said.

Readers can contact Shannon Eliot at [email protected] SHANNON ELIOT

Senior Staff Writer

After projecting only $100,000 of carry-over funds for the 2005-06 academic year, the A.S. Council must now decide what to do with an unexpected windfall of an additional $103,198.95, an amount not included in the original budget.

The idea of carry-over funding is nothing new and is something that the council deals with each year, according to A.S. Vice President Finance Greg Murphy.

“A.S. has no way to estimate how much carry-forward [funding] we will have until all the final fiscal books are closed,” Murphy stated in an e-mail. “Our fiscal books close mid-summer and that’s when we know for sure how much will carry forward.

Our council this year did a great job in budgeting a conservative dollar amount for our carry-forward, and now we have the flexibility to put those funds back into the line items that we previously had to cut.”

The carry-forward in 2004-05 from the previous year was also larger than anticipated by about $121,000, according to Murphy.

The newfound funding presents a potential bone of contention as many A.S. senators want to see that money go to their preferred organizations.

In the original 2005-06 budget, the A.S. Council voted to spend more money on student organizations and less on A.S. Safe Rides than originally proposed by A.S. President Christopher Sweeten. Safe Rides, an A.S. service, formerly known as Triton Taxi, that provides free transportation home to intoxicated or otherwise stranded UCSD students, had its funding cut down $1,400, to $27,000, in order to add to annual event funding.

Thurgood Marshall College Senior Senator Kate Pillon, a proponent of A.S. Safe Rides, said she predicts that the program will be one of many considered when it comes to additional funding.

“Now that we have all the numbers from last year I think we will be able to better evaluate how much we need in the [Safe Rides] account this year,” Pillon stated in an e-mail. “If we were right about the prediction last year and we don’t need the $1,400, then there is no need to put it back there. All I am concerned about is that the program can run at its full capacity. … If that means allocating more money, that’s what I think we need.”

Murphy expects some senators to advocate giving more money to college councils or to fund more operations, such as student-initiated outreach and A.S. Safe Rides.

He said he hopes senators will vote for more funding for campus student organizations and the A.S. programming office to go toward events like the Sun God Festival.

“My basic concern is that if we decide to allocate more to our line items, that we do it fairly and consistently,” he said. “I also hope to see a large portion of the carry-forward stay in our general unallocated account to pay for those things that randomly come up in the middle of the year. I predict that the services for events [that] most directly affect the most number of students will see an increased allocation. ”

Pillon would like to see some money go into the student organizations unallocated line items, as that is a place in the budget where she sees financial gaps.

“Not only did we keep the line item roughly the same as last year, which doesn’t allow for the necessary growth that occurs every year in student organizations, but we are requiring the college festivals, Cultural Celebration and Excel Leadership conference to request out of it,” Pillon stated in an e-mail. “That’s over $30,000 worth of programs more that need to come out of the student orgs. unallocated line items, which stayed roughly the same as last year. It is just not enough to adequately support our student organizations and their events.”

Murphy attributes the larger-than-predicted carry-over to a variety of factors, including an increase in UCSD student enrollment, which automatically results in more income, and the fact that not all monies allocated in last year’s A.S. budget were completely spent.

“We allocate funds to hundreds of events and programs so it comes as no surprise to find that not all those events and programs spent their allocations in full,” Murphy said. “Whatever funds are not used automatically carry forward to the next fiscal year. More specifically, we had some staff salary carry forward because a couple of positions were not filled during certain periods of last year.”

One example of a program that spent less than allocated is student outreach, which is contributing $2,651.22 to this year’s carry-over.

The A.S. Council also voted last spring to eliminate stipends multiple positions, including the A.S. elections manager and all 24 A.S. senators.

“I would still like the majority of the money to stay in general unallocated, however … it is not necessary to spend money just because we have it,” Pillon said.