The ASUO Programs Finance Committee made one thing very clear at its meeting Tuesday — this year’s budget is a tight one.
“Funding this year is very tight; there are a lot of mandatory increases PFC has to deal with,” PFC senator seat No. 3 Mike Sherman said.
It is because of these mandatory increases that each group, with the exception of three, walked away from its PFC budget hearing with an increase in funds.
Spencer View Tenants’ Council was zero-funded by PFC after failing to show up to its budget hearing on time. PFC is obligated to zero-fund a group if that group is 10 or more minutes late. The council plans to appeal the decision, however, and has five business days to do so.
The other group to walk away without money was the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society after its budget was tabled due to a PFC mistake.
PFC didn’t realize SAACS had an outside account open, and PFC cannot grant money to groups with outside accounts. However, PFC chairwoman Kate Shull offered a quick fix to table the budget hearing until the following Tuesday, giving SAACS ample time to close the account.
“We feel absolutely awful we didn’t catch this earlier,” Shull said.
The Oregon Marching Band left its hearing with neither an increase nor decrease in funds.
“We have asked for zero increase in our budget,” OMB Director Todd Zimbelman said. He continued to explain that although OMB has grown 30 to 40 percent in size, it realized PFC is financially strapped this year. So instead of asking for an increase, OMB will try to make up for its growth with fundraising.
Two new groups presented to the PFC: the Pacific Wine Law Society and the Public Relations Student Society of America. Both PWLS and PRSSA were given the full $300 they asked for.
Of the remaining 10, the group given the largest increase was Night Ride.
Night Ride is an assault prevention shuttle bus — similar to Project Saferide, which only transports women — that takes both men and women. Night Ride was given $32,098, much of which is allocated to payroll for the new group. In 2002, PFC funded Night Ride’s activities by combining its budget with Project Saferide and increasing that budget.
Quiz Bowl also received a large increase of $492 — a 64 percent increase. Pre-Health Sciences Center was given $391, a 22.19 percent increase, and Recreation and Intramurals left its budget hearing with $150,679, a 19.85 percent increase.
Sustainable Business Symposium also received a 7.46 increase to $5,995.

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