The A.S. Council’s annual budget talks got off to an early start last night, when new President Utsav Gupta proposed a structural overhaul that would delay most financial allocations until Fall Quarter and modify the council’s savings plan.
Traditionally, the council approves the president’s allocations to events, programs, enterprises and student organizations during ninth week of Spring Quarter. But Gupta said last night that these decisions are always based on estimations, since campus enrollment figures and the council’s financial carry-forward are not finalized until fall.
Not to mention, he added, three weeks in office does not afford much time for deliberation.
‘Oftentimes, we just copy and paste the old budget because that’s convenient and it’s all we have time to do,’ Gupta said. ‘That’s not the smartest way to allocate.’
His solution is to limit spring allocations to only the most immediate budgetary needs ‘mdash; such as the creation of new staff positions and major programs ‘mdash; and save the remaining items until the beginning of Fall Quarter.
Though there is still no consensus regarding what the council’s immediate funding priorities will be, A.S. Concerts and Events and A.S. Graphic Studio have already requested new staff members, and there is a list of programs and events that either take place over the summer or require funding guarantees in advance.
‘If you’re going to do it this way, it needs to at least cover the big events of the fall, so that people know that money will be there,’ Associate Vice President of Student Advocacy Frank Carroll said. ‘It takes months and months to plan these events.’
With a boost from this winter’s fee referendum, the council will not be short on cash next year. Gupta estimated that the A.S. budget will total $3.1 million, up from $1.8 million last year, and he said he is determined to spend ‘mdash; and save ‘mdash; this money wisely.
His plan includes two substantial changes to the A.S. reserves system. First, he wants to transfer next fall’s carry-forward ‘mdash; historically treated as a bonus to the annual budget ‘mdash; to A.S. Mandate Reserves to insure against less successful years. Alongside the 5 percent of the total budget the council puts aside annually, these new savings would likely push Mandate Reserves above $1.2 million in 2009-10, Gupta said.
Associate Vice President of Concerts and Events Garrett Berg suggested reducing or eliminating the 5 percent mandate to keep the account from swelling too much. Gupta said he is open to the idea of a reduction, but that it would require an amendment to the A.S. Standing Rules.
Gupta also recommended opening a new Enterprise Stability Reserve account to regulate A.S. enterprise revenue and prevent year-to-year fluctuations from impacting the council’s annual budget. Under his plan, the council would determine an acceptable rate of revenue variance ‘mdash; most likely around 10 percent ‘mdash; for its enterprises. It would then feed money into and away from individual businesses depending on their annual profits.
Carroll criticized the plan, citing its lack of ‘failure mechanisms’ for unsuccessful enterprises and emphasizing that current students’ money should be invested in current students.
‘It seems like we’re going to be taking a lot of money away from current students to pay for future debts,’ he said. ‘At what point do we define failure? If we keep using this to subsidize failures, we’re never going to make money. We shouldn’t just use this to cover our butts.’
Gupta said his primary goal is to relieve the council of its dependence on student activity fees and reinvest in A.S. enterprises.
‘None of these details are fixed, but we need to create the process by which we can become more dependent on our [enterprise] income and less dependent on taxing our students,’ he said.
The council will review Gupta’s spring b
udget proposal next week.
Readers can contact Jesse Alm at [email protected].