In another round of hearings, the EMU Board of Directors made preliminary approvals on budgets for the UO Cultural Forum, Club Sports and the Outdoor Program on Thursday for the 2003-04 fiscal year.
The board gave the Cultural Forum a $189,718 nod, despite extensive debate on the budget’s nature and funding for extra growth.
EMU Board member Mark Watson said he felt the Cultural Forum’s budget was “anomalous” and very different from those of other groups because it did not “provide complete indication of the scope of the program.” He added that he was reluctant to cut funding from other programs to fund the group’s growth areas, especially since it brings in a large amount of money through its programs.
Board finance senator Brenda Tincher suggested that the Cultural Forum should make clear income projections for all events, based on past revenues, although she was uncertain whether this was a plausible solution. However, board member Windy Borman, who also works for the Cultural Forum, said it was impossible for the coordinators to make early projections of changing events. There was also discussion on the areas the group seeks to expand. The Cultural Forum wants extra money to increase an office manager position from nine months half-time to a full-time 12-month position.
Cultural Forum Program Director Justina Parsons-Bernstein said she needed a full-time manager to track the program’s budget. She said the group has a complicated accounting system due to multiple sources of income and did not previously have a manager trained in fiscal matters, which led to various accounting anomalies.
Office manager Mandy Chong concurred, saying that since she was hired, she has discovered 69 problems related to mischarges and misallocations in the budget.
EMU board member Jacob Holcomb supported the change, saying it would lead to fiscal continuity and allow Parsons-Bernstein to focus on campus outreach.
The EMU Board also approved the Club Sports budget of $260,127. Club Sports, which had a large turnout at the meeting of representatives from various clubs, coordinates various team sports and has more than 1,000 members. Apart from money through incidental fees, Club Sports Coordinator Sandy Vaughn said the department raises a lot of money through fundraising and brought in more than $193,000 from fundraising efforts last school year.
The Outdoor Program’s $237,021 budget was also approved with minimal difficulties, although there were some queries as to whether it had underbudgeted for the facilities manager the group looks to hire. The board later determined the figures presented were acceptable.
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