Even if the Student Senate allows the EMU Budget Committee the maximum budget increase for next year, the EMU will still be more than $36,000 short of the projected amount of money needed to maintain current services.
The board is recommending a 7-percent increase – the highest allowed under ASUO rules – while projecting that expenses will increase 7.9 percent next year.

The board’s budget benchmark hearing will take place Wednesday night in the Gumwood Room of the EMU as part of a marathon Senate session that will also include a hearing for the Programs Finance Committee. And though the EMU’s budget is expected to be the less contentious of the two, the decision of the Senate will affect every student who works, eats or attends club meetings in the building each day.
“If we get 7 percent it doesn’t actually relieve any of our programs. It will just lessen the crisis by a little bit,” EMU Board Chairwoman Chess Patricolo said. Last year, the EMU projected an increase of 10.4 percent to maintain its services. The board asked for a 7 percent increase, and the Senate gave it 5.5 percent. That resulted in a budget shortfall of more than $100,000.
The largest chunk of the EMU’s projected budget for next year – nearly $225,000 – is for personnel expenses. The building has 80 salaried employees and 400 student employees. Also, health insurance, gas prices and state-mandated audits are all fixed expenses.
The EMU dealt with last year’s budget gap by cutting budgets and “aggressively” increasing earned revenue, according to budget manager Jean Sun.
But both of those measures can only stretch so far. Increased revenue came from renegotiated ATM contracts and raised fees in the Craft Center, among other places. The new contracts increased the rent on all machines on campus, but the contracts won’t be up for another five years. And programs are worried that the marketplace won’t allow fees to be raised much higher.
“At some point our fees will raise too high and then there will be a point – and maybe we’ve already reached it – where our fees will be too high and we’ll lose business,” Craft Center Coordinator Diane Hoffman said.
The center cut its advertising budget last year to pay for other expenses such as payroll. Board Chair Patricolo said that’s a problem because advertising is what will bring in more students and add to a program’s revenue.
Hoffman said the cost of health care is a problem, and funds have to be moved from advertising to where they are “better utilized.”
Dan Geiger, coordinator of the Outdoor Program, agreed that health care adds to his program’s mandated expenses.
“You have two choices: You either drive revenue or you cut expenses,” Geiger said. The program has revenue from equipment rentals, but Geiger is also worried his fees can only be raised so high.
“This building is getting old and it’s hard to maintain, and that’s killing us as well,” Geiger said. Looking up at missing ceiling tiles, he said the program’s office is below Panda Express restaurant and “about once a month we get their overflow. It spills down onto the rug.”
The building has $10 to $11 million in deferred maintenance, according to Patricolo. And the state mandates the EMU keep a reserve for replacing equipment. Sun said $57,000 was put in the reserve the year before last, but last year no money was added to the fund because of the budget shortfall.
The board’s budget draft for next year includes $50,000 to add to the reserve.
While the board is recommending a 7 percent increase, the ASUO Executive is recommending only 6 percent. Finance Coordinator Matt Rose said that by his calculations the Executive’s proposals would make next year’s incidental fee raise by 4.6 percent, or about $9.50 a term, and he didn’t want it to go any higher. This year’s incidental fee is $208 each term.
“Do I think the EMU could use 7 percent? Yes,” Rose said. “But I have to look at the bigger picture.”
Sen. Samantha Brodey, who sits on the EMU board, said she thinks a 7 percent increase would be in the best interest of the Senate and the student body.
“Just talking to other senators I believe they understand the situation the EMU is in and how vital it is to all students. It’s the hub of campus,” Brodey said.
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