At the SGA senate meeting on April 14, senators passed a bill determining the budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year using the Student Activity Fee. Student Director of Finance Thanh Thanh Tran authored the bill after the Budget Advisory Committee allocated money for each budget.
The activity fee covers funding for the different branches of SGA and the clubs and organizations budget, as well as the individual budgets of groups including Clyde’s Cupboard and riverrun. In total, the budget consists of $331,982.
Tran took the floor to clarify several changes from previous budgets, including the removal of the General Administrative Recharge, a tax on the activity fee. Brad Bayer, senior executive director of Student Life and Assessment, said that the GAR would likely not be replaced with another tax.
Funding set aside for all SGA operations totals $74,611, including $33,768 for recognition.
SGA will also receive $8,000 for the Judicial Branch, more than in years past. Election Commissioner Maria Bynes explained that she ran out of money for the election this year and wanted more to cover rising costs.
The amount set aside for clubs and organizations next year is $109,351. Club Cash, which Tran said clubs do not generally request as often, has been allocated $2,500. Tran mentioned that in future years, additional club money “can just come from [the] Carry Forward [fund],” although SGA is “trying not to use Carry Forward as a crutch.”
One of the most significant changes in funding was the allocation of $47,520 to Clyde’s Cupboard, which was more than in previous years. Tran said, “A lot of the items that they have gotten for Clyde’s Cupboard have come from donations,” and that the additional money would go to shopping for Mountain Lion Meals.
Voicing his overall support for the bill, Senator at Large Aidan Meadows pointed out that even though Clyde’s Cupboard was the biggest change on this budget, “It’s one of the few ways we can directly [affect] students.”
The budget also increased funding for Student Literary and Arts Journal riverrun, bringing funding up to $10,000. Multiple senators recommended riverrun as an excellent display of student work.
Senator of Education Flora Jathanna said that riverrun has “been really wonderful” on campus and hoped that their adjusted budget would help them increase visibility.
Meadows applauded the Budget Advisory Committee for allocating riverrun more funding than in years past when their budgets had been “slashed.”
Following discussion, the senate unanimously passed the bill.
Bayer took the stand during public comment to congratulate the senators on their work. “It is not a simple thing to pass a budget of this significance,” he said. “There has been a lot of groundwork.”
Students can find bills passed by SGA in full on their website.
