The fund from which all of the clubs and organizations on campus receive their money is almost out.
The General Assembly contingency fund was originally budgeted at $34,000 to dole money out to groups needing funds for travel, speakers and other purposes the Assembly deems worthy. At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, the Assembly had $7,436.40 left. Two hours and a few bills later, that fund was down to $504.53.
According to Mike Nelson, Associated Students of the University of Utah vice president and Assembly chair, the Assembly running out of money is nothing new.
“Last year, they ran out quicker than we did,” Nelson said. “Our representatives have been very responsible.”
Nelson said this year the Assembly has focused on informing student groups about the money available to them in the student Assembly.
“The resources that ASUU has have really caught on,” Nelson said. “Because of that, we’ve had a plethora of bills come through the Assembly.”
The Assembly has reviewed 40 bills this year. It passed most of them, but some have been amended to a reduced amount of money.
To give itself money to work with for the rest of the year, the Assembly passed a bill to move $25,000 from the ASUU fee- income fund to the Assembly contingency fund.
The fee-income fund is extra money not worked into the ASUU budget when it was made during the summer. According to ASUU accountant George Lindsey, the budget was made based on conservative projections because those making the budget were not certain how the Olympics would affect enrollment.
Instead of going down, however, enrollment increased for Fall Semester. Lindsey anticipates this fund growing to $100,000 by the end of the academic year.
Some of these funds automatically go to certain accounts, such as the Student Senate contingency fund or child care, but there is still money remaining in the fee income fund which must be used before the money becomes a part of the ASUU general fund.
The proposed $25,000 is the maximum amount Redbook allows to be reapportioned to the Assembly. Before this happens, though, the bill has to go through the Student Senate and the University Joint Apportionment Board, a group comprised of student leaders and faculty that reviews major financial issues.
According to Nelson, he chose to give the Assembly the maximum amount to work with based on the amount of meetings it had left, how much it could have allocated and how much it could allocate during the year.
“I feel that the Assembly is the best use of student fees,” Nelson said.
Nelson hopes some remaining money in the fee-income fund can be transferred to the Executive Cabinet budgets that were cut substantially at the beginning of the year. The cabinet’s budgets fund all ASUU projects, such as the tailgate party and family fun days. Those budgets were reduced to as much as 50 percent, Nelson said, because of different budgeting practices used this year.
“We had less money to allocate this year because we were very precise,” Nelson said.