Every program, department and contracted service funded in part by student dollars will each spend at least 30 minutes before the Programs Finance Committee during the next six weeks when the panel holds annual budget hearings. Committee members said they expect the process to be smoother than in years past because of a clear model for determining budgets and only a couple of hearings expected to be contentious.
Sen. Steven Wilsey said the budget is expected to grow no more than $239,645 from $4,357,180 this year, an increase of 5.5 percent. The committee is no longer allocating money to the Student Recreation Center so the budget of the rec center is not reflected in the PFC budget.
The increase allows the committee to maintain current services and have more than $63,000 for growth of student programs and a cushion for “special circumstances.”
“Really, I can’t see us going over the benchmark. Senate wasn’t completely comfortable even with the 5.5,” Wilsey said. The 5.5 percent increase passed with 10 votes on the 18-member body.
Wilsey said the committee cannot go over the benchmark they were given because “it would be ignoring the half of the student body that was against it.”
Starting Monday, Wilsey and the other six PFC members will be in session four days a week for at least four and a half hours each day. It’s a rough schedule that may be significantly reduced if proposed changes to the ASUO’s budgeting committees are accepted in a special election, expected to take place within the first few weeks of winter term.
“From what I’ve experienced from being on PFC this year, it’s a huge responsibility that should be cut down,” Sen. Steven Wilsey said. “It’s a lot to ask people to do.
“We’re not just student leaders on campus, we’re also students. As long as (students) can know what’s happening (with student fee money) and have control over it, we should try to divide this process up,” he said.
Wilsey said he is prepared for what he knows will be a rough term. Both he and committee Chairman Jacob Brennan said there has been little disagreement in the group thus far. But neither of them have worked with two new appointees confirmed by the Senate at its last meeting Dec. 3 – Brennan didn’t even know that Senate Seat 3, formerly held by Neil Brown, had been filled.
“It would probably been best to have them appointed a while back,” Wilsey said of the new members. “It will be, I imagine, a little rough in the beginning. I think all of the new appointees are extremely qualified.”
With the departure of Brown at the end of last term, Brennan is now the only committee member to have been elected by the student body. Almost all of the other members were appointed by ASUO President Emily McLain between last June and December. One member, Tri Vo, was selected as a programs representative.
“If you wanted to know where the different viewpoints might come from, that’s it. It’s the difference of who was elected and who was appointed,” Brennan said.
“I’m the independent thinker. I was voted at-large and I’m, I guess you could say I’m the moderate. I believe there is a spectrum of viewpoints,” he said.
As chairman, Brennan will lead the meetings and rarely vote.
Brandon Culbertson and Sen. Nick Meyers, who replaced Brown, are the newest appointees. When up for confirmation by the Senate, Culbertson said he could think critically and would not be against scaling back the budgets of groups, “if there’s too much money and not enough leadership.”
Meyers portrayed himself as non-ideological and willing to listen to the opinions of others.
The first couple of days of budget hearings are expected to be the easiest. Departments and contracted services – such as Oregon Marching Band, the Emerald, Campus Recycling Program – generally require less deliberation, according to Brennan.
These groups are generally given a budget to maintain current services and can potentially receive more money at the end of the budgeting season if the organizations have special circumstances and the committee has extra funds, Brennan said.
The only contracted service expected to provoke lengthy debate is Lane Transit District. The district is trying to close a gap between the ASUO’s group rate and the group rate for other institutions such as Sacred Heart Medical Center. Doing so would require an increase of more than $83,000.
The increase breaks down to $13.89 per student per term, compared to $12.48 per term of the $208 incidental fee. Without the discount, students would pay $103 for a three-month pass.
“We will definitely question their additional $83,000,” Brennan said. “It’s our job to question why it’s that steep.”
“They did provide (ridership) data. The extent to which that data is valid – some of us in the PFC are shaking our heads,” he said.
“I feel as if they passed out the survey as people were boarding the bus, saying ‘do you ride the bus?’ Of course they’re going to say they ride the bus.”
The district’s hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Brennan said another hearing to watch will be OSPIRG’s on Jan. 24.
“We’re worried that funds … (are) going outside of Eugene to, say, independent researchers in Portland, for example,” Brennan said. “We want to make sure that student incidental fees are going to enrich the campus. And we want to make sure that OSPIRG is adhering to that.
“PFC is, I wouldn’t say skeptical of OSPIRG, but we will ask them some tough questions.”
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