The Student Government Association increased preliminary allocation funds from $75,000 last semester to $85,000 this semester with a fixed $10,000 rate for post allocations.
“Altogether, with allocations and post allocations this semester, we expect $95,000 to be allocated to organizations — almost half of all of SGA’s budget,” said Brian Gibbons, SGA director of finance and finance senior.
The extra $10,000 for the allocations process was the result of a redistribution of budget funds within SGA, he said.
“We do not have a larger (budget), but we are actually down about $1,000 more than last semester,” Gibbons said. “We put $10,000 down more this semester towards allocations by recognizing the results of the new software subsidy program and test reimbursement program. We also took into consideration the cost that we do not have in the fall but have in the spring which freed up a lot of money.”
With the new three-bracket system, organizations will be placed into three percentage range categories of the budget: 1.5 percent, 1.5001 percent to 3.5 percent and more than 3.5 percent, based on how much funding is requested, Gibbons said.
“Last semester, SGA had no input, and every organization was directly applying against one another. However, they felt they should without taking into consideration other organizations,” he said. “This semester, the organizations will apply for different pieces of the bracket and that total adds up to $85,000.”
The forms for the allocations process are due to the SGA office by Sept. 30 at 6 p.m., Gibbons said.
“I go through the forms for two to three hours, and I start constructing the Excel form we use for the budget,” he said. “The next day, we have a meeting of all the people on the SGA budget allocations committee, and we start to review these packets.”
Forms that are not filled out properly are not funded in the preliminary allocations process but are given the opportunity to reapply in the post-allocations process, Gibbons said.
Organizations have two weeks to submit forms for post allocations, which is reserved for those who made errors on paperwork.
“They can reapply with those errors corrected and reconsider the funding with the money set aside,” Gibbons said. “There is no bracket system in the post allocations, just a free for all, but there is much less funding than in the allocations process.”
The preliminary allocations meeting will be held Oct. 1. SGA meets for training on Oct. 2, and by Oct. 3, SGA will have results posted.
Kamaria Monmouth can be reached at [email protected]
