Student government’s Speaker of the Senate Josh Bolona will introduce a resolution that aims to encourage fiscal responsibility when allocating money to clubs and students this Thursday.
The resolution would divide the Activity and Service Fee budget into four fiscal quarters. Each of these quarters will have a set budget created by the Financial Allocations for Organizations Committee.
Clubs and students will be able to request funding from the quarter in which their event takes place, and the money to fund the event will be pulled from that quarter’s budget.
According to Bolona, this bill will work to ensure that the senate can fund clubs and students throughout the fiscal year.
“We, as Senate, allocate upward towards $1 million per year for individuals and organizations to travel to conferences and host events on campus,” Bolona said. “Year after year, we run out of funds towards the beginning of the Spring semester.”
Bolona believes that this resolution will make it possible for clubs and students to receive funding when they need it.
“They should expect to have the opportunity to receive funding in parts of the year that didn’t exist before,” Bolona said.
While this new bill will allow students and clubs to get funding year-round, one potential drawback to this bill would be that the senate will have to be stricter with funding.
“A point organizations should realize is the Senate will become a lot more stringent when allocating funds, as the budget they will be dipping in has been cut in fourths,” Bolona said.
While this budget could be a negative, Bolona believes that the pros of this resolution outweigh the cons.
“Overall, the resolution creates a year-round funding and fiscal responsibility balance that benefits the student body as a whole,” Bolona said.
If passed, this resolution could go into effect as early as January 2018.
