The ASUO is busy planning the budget cycle that will impact students for the next few years.
Max Burns, President of the ASUO Senate, discussed the main-focus of ASUO for this term: crafting the I-Fee, the budget in which ASUO can operate for the next fiscal year.
“The primary focus is to get that budget passed,” Burns said. “If the tuition keeps rising the way it does we can’t keep raising the I-Fee, which is what we use to make this whole thing run.”
ASUO hopes to create a sustainable budget and re-categorize programs, such as Designated Driver Shuttle, into departments which will give them more regulatory freedoms.
“Going forward we are looking at moving programs into departmental finance committees, but what that will also mean is that we are going to open surplus requests up to departments,” Burns said.
Historically, requests for funding from the surplus have been for programs only, but now that some programs are being planned to move into departments those same groups will have access to the surplus.
The Program Finance Committee is meeting with over 200 student organizations over the next few weeks to obtain financial information to better craft the next budget. The Department Finance Committee is also meeting with upwards of 17 departments to obtain financial information from them as well.
Vickie Gimm, Senate Seat One on ASUO and PFC member, discussed the purpose of moving programs into departments and what benefits that might hold in creating a sustainable budget for the next cycle.
“Currently, under PFC [Program Finance Committee] we operate under a slow-growth model, and people felt like these six organizations should be exempt from that because they operate differently,” Gimm said. “The groups affected by this switch are Women’s Center, Men’s center, MCC [Mulitcultural Center], Safe Ride, DDS [Designated Driver Shuttle], and childcare subsidy. These six organizations are formally managed by professional staff members, hired and paid by the respective student organization to support and advise them.  This switch would enable student groups to have rollover funds, less limitations with using their funds, and apparently allow them to grow faster.”
ASUO President Quinn Haaga described how these budget changes and program shifts will translate to better services for students. The programs that are shifting into departments all have professional staff members that are partially funded by ASUO, so moving these programs with professional staff makes it easier in case of immediate needs for more funding. Currently any requests for funding increases must be brought to senate and approved, which can take significantly more time.
“It makes it easier, funding wise,” Haaga said. “It gives [programs] more autonomy and control over their own budgets. Exec will make our recommendation for what we think each committee should increase or decrease, and the senate has their own benchmark, and the committees have their own benchmarks, and so it’s everyone working together to make this whole package.”
DDS and Safe Ride will be moved into UOPD, giving those groups more resources and security so they can expand.
ASUO crafts the budget every Winter term in preparation for the next year, and the impact of whatever budget they propose will affect students for years. Any proposals that are set for implementation will not take effect until after Summer term of 2018.
The deadline for ASUO to craft the next budget is mid-February. After the final budget has been fine-tuned and approved by ASUO senate, the proposal then goes to President Michael Schill for approval. If Schill approves it then the Board of Trustees will have the final say in implementation.