An accounting error has left the ASUO Student Senate with $4,099 less in surplus funds than expected, causing Senate President James George to ask groups to make special requests for funds as a “last resort” in an e-mail to student groups Tuesday.
Senate ledgers showed $20,782 in surplus as of April 11, which caused George to alert groups in a similar e-mail that the Senate “would like to fully support all surplus requests, but unfortunately due to our limited funds, we may not be able to do so.”
The Senate then spent almost $16,000 and later realized the accounting error. It was left with just $335.80 remaining Wednesday night after allocating $360 to the UO Chess Club to hire professional instructors.
George said an error in a spreadsheet the ASUO controllers used to track the funds caused the mistake.
George said the Senate can access $5,000 in unallocated reserves.
He added that the Senate will become an avenue to help groups find other funding sources.
The Senate also voted to allow the Assault Prevention Shuttle service to use $1,500 to cosponsor other events. The money was originally earmarked to conduct background checks on APS drivers, but the organization was prohibited from doing so, Senator Sarah Wells said.
— Parker Howell