To help maintain a dwindling funding pool, SGA passed a bill that put money in their reserves at the Feb. 29 meeting.
The bill reallocated unused funds to the Carryforward Fund, reserve money that comes from unspent funds from the Student Activity Fee, because they are almost out of funds.
There is around $11,000 left in the Carryforward Fund after the addition of funds from the reallocation bill, according to SGA’s Director of Finance Amanda Ford.
SGA uses funding for the events they host, as well as for clubs if BAC can’t provide them with funding. This is currently the case, as BAC is out of funding for the rest of the semester.
SGA also passed another bill to fund an upcoming event focused on restorative justice.
Reallocation Bill
Senator of Public Service Greg Abukar-Duru presented a bill that was authored by Ford that reallocated $9,000 from unused funds to the Carryforward Fund.
This bill pulls $5,000 from unused money to use for SGA “recognition,” which is the money used to give SGA members a small stipend for their service. The other $4,000 comes from the SGA office, marketing and resource manager position pay, which became vacant last fall.
Abukar-Duru believes passing this extra funding will allow SGA to continue fostering their relationship with UCCS students through more events.
“It would be very advantageous for us to do because we’re only in March and are kind of running out of money, so I think we should have a little bit more left for other events and other bills,” he said.
To help with this problem for the next academic year, SGA proposed an increase to the SAF for students to vote on in this year’s election. If passed, the SAF will increase from a $16.06 fee for the fall and spring semesters ($8.03 in the summer) to $30.40 per semester ($15.20 in the summer).
Comic Book Restorative Justice Bill
BLOOM hosted an event on March 5 that focused on a comic book about restorative justice in Boulder with a follow-up panel on March 6.
The events serve both as general community engagement and a way for criminal justice majors to fulfill their community engagement requirement.
The bill allocated $408.75 to help pay the author, Ryan Forbes, for their time at both events. The bill also paid for part of the AV bill, which is the cost for anything audio or visual-related at the events.
Senator of Innovation Tobias Estrella was in favor of the bill. “This is something that we should fund, especially since it’s related to the justice system. We’re student government, so it kind of shows our support for government structure at our school and making sure everyone’s safe,” Estrella said.
In other news:
- The SGA election week began on March 4 and ends on March 8 at 4 p.m. Students can learn more about the candidates on SGA’s website.
- Voting for the SGA election will be online. Students can vote here and learn more about the referendums here.
- Chancellor Sobanet and UCCS Chief of Police Dewayne McCarver will be attending the SGA meeting on March 7 to listen to concerns from SGA and students.
Photo via The Scribe Archives.