The Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee has already reached the growth a finance committee is allowed by state law, before the ACFC’s next hearing with the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group to discuss its ASUO funding happens Tuesday.
While there are possibilities to renegotiate already agreed-upon contracts with services such as Lane Transit District or the athletic department, the ACFC has already allocated a 7 percent increase by Wednesday, which is the maximum allowed.
This is an increase from approximately $3.75 million to just over $4 million in incidental fee dollars going to pay for student services. If the committee were to fully fund OSPIRG’s request, the ACFC total budget would go over $4.1 million, a 10 percent increase over the 2009-10 ACFC budget. OSPIRG is requesting $117,000, which would then proceed to fund the salaries of advocates, the organization’s executive director and a campus organizer, as well as money to fund the state PIRG office.
Sen. Ian Fielding, ACFC vice chair, said there was still an option to move money around to include some funding for OSPIRG’s contract in the budget.
“It’s important to realize everything we’ve discussed so far has been motions and not actually finalized by Senate,” Fielding said. “So we can go back, and ACFC holds the right to recall any group.”
However, ACFC Chair Brianna Woodside-Gomez places a high importance on the contracts they already allocated money to.
“We must discuss it,” Woodside-Gomez said after Wednesday’s ASUO Senate meeting. “The contracts we have right now are a priority.”
A stipulation in the most recent LTD contract negotiation in Spring 2010 was that for this year, the ASUO would be able to pay a discounted rate, provided the contract would be for the normal rate after. It is because of this agreement that Fielding would like to hold to the allocation they already made to LTD.
“I think it reflects highly on the ASUO when we hold to our agreements,” Fielding said. “But if you were to go back on that agreement, which I wouldn’t recommend, you could save money there.”
Fielding specifically mentioned the athletic department’s budget. He suggested that the simplest track for the ACFC to take would be to take around $60,000 from the athletics contract.
However, Woodside-Gomez said the University’s athletic department is not going to fold. After a certain point, it will have to start cutting student tickets.
“They made it clear,” Woodside-Gomez said. “It’s not like ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ — they’re selling a product.”
She said the committee members are going into the appeal hearing to represent students.
“As an ACFC member, I am keeping my mind open and as a group, we have been talking about keeping our minds open for Tuesday,” Woodside-Gomez said. “If we decide on Tuesday we want to fund them, yes, we have a few ways we can.”
Another idea being bounced around in the ASUO is the possibility of shifting some costs incurred from previously addressed contracts to another part of the incidental fee.
The ASUO has money in its Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit fund that might be used to offset some of the LTD allocation. If this happens, this might also create funding for the OSPIRG contract.
One initial thought from some in the ASUO would be to make a request for over-realized funds. However, this would still be illegal because it would count into the ACFC’s allotted growth even if it didn’t come from the ACFC’s jurisdiction.
The Green Tape Notebook, the ASUO’s set of governing documents, mandates that all ASUO budgets to be completed by the end of winter term’s dead week. While contracts may still be negotiated after the budgets are submitted, anything budgetary the ACFC deals with needs to be decided by the end of winter term.
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