The Athletic Department Finance Committee’s budget will come before the Student Senate again Wednesday night after two days of contentious e-mail exchanges.
Senators postponed passing the budget at last week’s meeting, which they had hoped would be the final meeting of the term.
The ADFC negotiates prices for student tickets to football and men’s basketball games which are purchased in bulk by student government.
One of the major sticking points is more than $15,000 included in the budget to be used to keep the committee’s coffers steady during the next two years.
In the 2008-09 year there will be six home football games and the 2009-10 year there will be seven. The $15,000 is intended to be earmarked toward the 2009-10 budget to avoid a large increase next year.
In an e-mail to ADFC Chairman Kyle McKenzie, Sen. Kevin Parks said the $15,000 would charge “seniors this year for games they cannot attend next year.”
McKenzie responded by saying that he agreed, “but overall they will be paying hardly a significant amount of money compared to the programs and other services they do not see at all because of program culture and exclusivity.”
But the proposed contract contains no mention of how the money would be used, according to an e-mail written by Sen. Billy Hatch.
Even if the contract did contain such a provision, the current Senate does not have the authority to allocate funds for any year beyond the next fiscal year, Hatch wrote.
ASUO Accountant Lynn Giordano said a similar issue arose last year during negotiations with the athletic department. She said the department could create a reserve fund with the ASUO so the money would not be spent in 2008-09.
McKenzie responded to Hatch by writing that the additional $15,000 “is simply a way to keep things stable” next year, but did not comment on the language missing from the contract.
McKenzie did not return a phone call from the Emerald.
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