The Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) discussed the SGA 2026-27 school year budget, which includes individual branch budgets and the pay for senators and BAC members at the March 31 meeting. They also approved five funding proposals.
BAC oversees the allocation of the student fee fund, SGA’s funding source, to student clubs and organizations. The committee is composed of the Director of Finance and six senators.
Final budget decisions will be voted on at the BAC meeting on April 21.
SGA budget 2026-2027 school year
According to Josh Mattias, the director of finance, SGA will receive $691,318.33 in the 2026-27 school year, however, they only have $630,000 to allocate once reserves and general and administrative recharge (GAR) costs are accounted for.
GAR refers to infrastructure costs that are allocated across auxiliary and agency funds.
Of that allocation total, about $245,000 is committed to ongoing funding requests, such as Clyde’s Cupboard, meaning SGA ultimately has $385,000 remaining to allocate in the 2026-27 school year.
As the budget exists, SGA needs $396,000 to cover senator pay, BAC members pay, the executive and judicial branch budgets, and funding for UCCS organizations and student clubs, creating a $11,600 deficit.
Following the budget deficit, the committee discussed different aspects of the budget, including SGA branches and administration budgets.
Aiden Burke, SGA president, proposed reducing the executive committee budget from $9,000 to $2,500, which includes the general and travel budget.
According to Burke, the travel budget was increased a few years ago to make better conferences more accessible, but was unnecessary.
“I just don’t think [$8,000 for traveling] is a great use of our limited budget. This year we’re going to go to Boulder, which is a nearby conference, and I think there are ample conferences that we learn a lot from nearby,” he said.
The judicial branch requested $7,000 for administrative supplies, election items and catering for events and justice board member dinners.
The judicial branch also requested $7,000 last year, but have used only $5,300 so far. According to Eden Kidanee, the chief justice, this is because they have not gone to dinner yet.
The SGA administration requested $4,700 for grad stoles, student employee name tags, team building events and other supplies.
Pay for Senate and BAC members
Michael Tucker, SGA resource manager, requested $36,640 to cover senator pay and $3,360 to cover BAC committee members’ pay.
This reflects a slight increase in pay for senators, having requested $35,488 last year whereas BAC member pay has nearly been cut in half, having requested $5,000 last year.
“Senators who attend BAC are getting paid more for attending BAC than for being senators, and that does not reflect the order of operations. You are a senator before you are a BAC member,” Tucker said.
BAC members are currently paid $34 per week, but this budget would reduce their pay to $15 per week.
The Speaker of the Senate, Walat Gozeh, proposed to stop paying BAC members entirely, arguing that the committee does not require more work than other paid committees.
“[We used to be paid] because BAC went on for so long, but now BAC isn’t going on that long, so why are we still getting extra pay?” Gozeh said.
Olivia Abeyta, the senator of clubs, organizations and FSL, argued that the committee still does as much work because it’s more involved than other committees.
Burke added that BAC members are paid as an incentive due to previous difficulties filling the committee.
Gozeh then suggested lowering BAC pay to $10 rather than $15 and creating a fund for student-at-large positions, who act as a proxy. Senators-at-large are not currently paid for any work done as a proxy.
The committee also discussed if committee members should continue to receive pay when they miss a meeting.
According to David Schieler, the SGA advisor and associate director of student engagement, when a senator misses a meeting, their pay goes to SGA’s reserves, not the senator. Schieler countered that since senators are not paid for meetings they miss, their proxy can receive their pay instead.
“If it applies to the Senate, then it should apply to the committee,” Gozeh said.
Funding proposals
BAC approved proposals from the fashion club, classics club, history club, dance club and the Queer Student Alliance (QSA).
Fashion club requested $2,125.36 to cover catering costs for their ROAR days events and other items that were not covered in their original ROAR days funding request, such as snacks and makeup products.
The classics club and history club are co-hosting a mock Greek Olympics on April 11 for all students. The history club requested $134.22 to cater Louie’s pizza, and the classics club requested $59.42 for beverages, like sports drinks and water, and ice.
Dance club requested $112.74 to cover the costs of three costumes for an additional dancer. The costs were not originally accounted for because the performer was going to be on military service.
The QSA requested $190.25 to rent Main Event for their end-of-year bowling outing on April 30.