During the third week of budget hearings, the ASUO Programs Finance Committee set budgets for some of the largest programs to go before the committee this year, including the Student Recreation Center and the University Career Center.
Final 2002-03 budgets for eight groups with hearings last week totaled more than $100,000.
PFC increased the Recreational Sports budget by 28.07 percent on Jan. 22 — setting it at $136,670 for 2002-03. PFC Chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden said the group received a large increase because some line items that had previously been in the SRC budget were moved to the Recreational Sports budget. Recreational Sports is also adding an assistant director position, she said.
On Jan. 24, PFC decided budgets for six programs, including the ASUO Women’s Center, Sexual Assault Support Services, the Student Insurgent and the Oregon Daily Emerald.
PFC increased the Women’s Center budget, from $120,128 this year to $125,435 for 2002-03. Women’s Center staff requested increases in part to fund a new sexual assault prevention program.
PFC increased the SASS budget from $47,767 to $52,758, a 10.45 percent increase. ASUO Vice President Joy Nair said the amount of funding the service receives from PFC is small in comparison to the number of students it serves, she said.
“Sixty-nine percent of (services provided by SASS) are going to UO students and faculty, but we only pay for about 10.9 percent of their budget,” she said.
Controversy held up the Insurgent’s 2001 budget hearing, but within 25 minutes, PFC members voted unanimously to increase the publication’s budget by 8.62 percent to cover rising printing costs.
PFC also increased funding for the Emerald by more than 10 percent to $132,870, restoring the paper to the level of funding granted by PFC every year from 1997 to 2000. Last year, PFC cut the Emerald’s funding based partly on the assumption the paper could make up the loss in fees with advertising revenue, Student Sen. Eric Bailey said.
After hearing about the Emerald’s loss in advertising revenue this year, PFC member Joe Streckert said the committee should increase the paper’s budget.
“Perhaps we should end the quote-unquote ‘experiment’ done by the PFC (last year), ” he said.
PFC granted an increase of more than $15,000 to Campus Recycling. The group, which previously put budget requests on the ballot, has a budget of $100,000 this year. PFC increased the Campus Recycling budget because of rising labor costs and expanded programs.
Campus Recycling requested a $25,000 increase because the program has not received an increase in funding in 10 years, but PFC members said they did not want to grant such a large increase in just one year.
Hearings for Project Saferide and its new counterpart, Night Ride, were scheduled for Thursday but could not be held because of time constraints. Both groups’ hearings have been rescheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 5.
During a 10-hour hearing session Jan. 26, PFC decided budgets for four programs previously funded by ballot — the University Counseling and Testing Center, the Career Center, the Mentor Program and the SRC. PFC allocated $537,428 for the SRC 2002-2003 budget. This year, SRC will receive about $382,951 in incidental fees.
Increased utility costs accounted for about $95,000 of the increase SRC received, Madden said. In the past, the University has picked up the tab for SRC utilities, but in 2002-03, half of utilities expenses will come out of the SRC budget, she said. The increase will also allow SRC to hire someone for a new “preventative maintenance” position to repair exercise equipment, she said.
PFC hearings scheduled on Monday include the Returning Students Association and Model UN. On Tuesday, PFC hearings include the Disability Services Project, Lane Transit District, and ASUO Legal Services. Hearings scheduled Thursday include the ASUO Executive and Designated Driver Shuttle.
A complete PFC hearings schedule for Jan. 28 through 31 is available online at www.dailyemerald.com.