On Wednesday night the Student Senate breezed through a regular meeting, two annual budget benchmark hearings, and a resolution that had been debated for eight weeks – in less than three hours.
“In comparison to last year’s (benchmark hearings), it was a very civil and calm meeting,” ASUO Vice President Chii-San SunOwen said.
Even compared with regular Senate meetings this year, Wednesday’s meeting was markedly civil. There was no name-calling and few outbursts. And on more than one occasion there were displays of compromise between senators who are not usually on the same side of most issues.
The Senate approved budget increases for next year for the Programs Finance Committee and the EMU at higher rates than the ASUO Executive had recommended. The PFC budget was increased by more than even the committee had recommended.
The EMU Board came prepared in business suits and with what senators said was a well-organized presentation. Board members made the case that the EMU needed more money than the maximum amount the Senate could allow under the ASUO Constitution.
A maximum 7 percent increase is allowed, and the EMU Budget Committee estimated the building needed an increase of 7.9 percent just to maintain current services.
“I regret to say that this building is falling apart,” EMU Board Chairwoman Chess Patricolo said.
The Executive had recommended giving the EMU a 6 percent increase, which in real dollars would have given the committee $40,000 less than they were requesting. In presenting the Executive’s recommendation, ASUO Finance Coordinator Matt Rose stressed that he understood the maximum increase was needed, but said he had to consider the overall increase on the incidental fee students have to pay each term.
The difference between giving the EMU a 6 percent or 7 percent increase was equal to an incidental fee increase of $2.50 over an entire school year, Rose said.
The Senate voted to give the EMU a 7 percent benchmark, with 15 senators voting in favor of the increase. Senate President Athan Papailiou and Sen. Dan Feldman abstained.
The Programs Finance Committee asked for a 4.8 percent increase. Of that, committee members said 4.3 percent was needed to maintain current services and half a percent – roughly $20,000 – would have gone to growth for student programs.
Sen. Steven Wilsey, who crunched most of the numbers in the PFC budget, said $20,000 left no reserve in the event of an emergency. The PFC allocates funds to more than 120 groups on campus.
The Executive recommended an even smaller increase of 4.5 percent. Some senators were not willing to go any higher than that number, but SunOwen said she and ASUO President Emily McLain considered it the lowest possible amount on which programs could survive.
The bargaining began with senators who favored an increase starting high and bargaining down. Sen. Diego Hernandez called for an increase of 6.5 percent, but senators rejected it immediately. Even Wilsey agreed such an increase was “unfeasible.” Wilsey went down another percentage point.
“A 5.5 increase would raise the i-fee by less than a dollar for the year and bring in $50,000 extra in growth,” he said.
Sen. Karen Trippe said she was hearing a lot of numbers thrown around, but only had data for a 4.8 percent increase. “That’s what I’m comfortable with. That allows for sustainable growth,” she said.
Audience member Andrea Blasser told the Senate she wasn’t an ATM and asked senators to consider the effect the growth of the incidental fee has on cash-strapped students.
But when the vote was called on a 5.5 percent increase, it passed with the votes of 10 senators. Boye said passing a benchmark higher than what the PFC and Executive requested was the result of a compromise and planning by senators who were comfortable with the incidental fee being higher.
He said senators who were willing to negotiate spoke ahead of time about how much of an increase each would be comfortable with, and worked to get 10 votes for the highest possible number.
“It was definitely the work of a good amount of compromise,” Boye said. “I think the opposing side of things wanted to go lower than (5.5 percent), but I’m glad that our prior work was able to counteract that. We were worried about starting too high and then ending up at a 2.5.”
According to Boye, some of the senators voting for a 5.5 percent increase wanted the number to be as high as 7 percent, while others wanted it to be as low as 5.
The senators voting against the 5.5 percent PFC benchmark were Brown, Trippe, Kyle McKenzie, Donnie Kimm, Lee Warnecke, Feldman, and Noor Rajabzadeh.
Kimm, the Senate vice president, said he voted against the increase because he didn’t have a breakdown of the budget in front of him at the time.
Wilsey said the difference between a 4.8 benchmark and a 5.5 will result in an increase to the incidental fee of less than $1 per term. With all three budget benchmarks – 7 percent for the EMU, 5.5 percent for the PFC, and no increase for the Athletic Department Finance Committee – the incidental fee will be $201 per term next year, according to Wilsey’s estimates.
The Student Recreation Center’s budget is not included in that number because an increase to a separate fee is under consideration. If the rec center is added to the fee, the PFC’s budget will have to be readjusted. The incidental fee is currently $208 per term, some of which funds the rec center.
The Senate also passed a resolution stating the student body favors the preservation of McArthur Court for its cultural significance. All provisions in the resolution dealing with the construction of a new basketball arena were omitted from the resolution.
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