The Budget Appropriations Committee finally put the chopping blocks to rest after hours of debating funds for each organization at Loyola. After 12 hours of discussion among members of the Student Government Association committee, 46 out of 51 organizations have been awarded funding for the semester.
The committee had a total of $75,000 to divide among all the organizations that applied. According to Garrett Fontenot, history senior and Student Government Association Senior Senator-At-Large, the total amount all the organizations asked for far exceeded this budget by over $100,000. Fontenot said SGA allocated just over $71,000.
“This year, organizations requested so much funding, we ended up having to go deep into their priorities to stay within the budget,” Fontenot said.
To ensure that organizations received appropriate amounts of funding without exceeding the budget, the committee applied cuts to the organizations’ requests as necessary.
Technical cuts were the first of numerous provisions made to each organization’s budget packet. Organizations with improperly completed budget packets that included lack of documentation, insufficient forms, or other related problems ran the risk of having their budgets cut first.
Other discrepancies that SGA deemed not fundable, according to their policy, were denied next. For example, if an organization allocated money for food, clothing or equipment that was not necessarily vital for an event or to the organization, those requests were cut.
Since the committee was still over budget, they proceeded to make conditional cuts, starting with an organization’s lowest priorities.
“We try to cut things from their lowest priority request so we are not interfering with what they want to do most,” Fontenot said.
The rules made during the conditional cuts were applied to every organization’s request until the committee was able to meet a budget goal of $71, 346.69. The difference between the total budget and what was allocated will roll into post allocations, in which organizations will be given the chance to appeal allocations on Feb. 18.
“Pretty much everyone got less than they asked for except a few organizations who asked for one thing to be funded,” Fontenot said.
Out of the 49 organizations, only four were granted their requested funding: Loyola University Student Historical Association received the full $1,210.00, Revisions received $2,921.80, Sigma Tau Delta received $1,114.91 and Society of Physics Students received $265.70.
Untitled: Visual Arts Club, Gamma Phi Beta, Loyola Life and Loyola University Golf Club were the only organizations that did not receive any funding. Brian Gibbons, SGA finance director, said there were different technical reasons those organizations did not receive any funding.
“The Untitled: Visual Arts Club did not have documentation for their requests. Also, the Golf Club had not been officially chartered and it is against our policy to fund organizations that are not officially chartered. As for the other two organizations, one turned in handwritten documentation. All documentation should be typed. And the other turned in their packet after 6 p.m.,” Gibbons said.
The rest of the organizations received a certain portion of the amounts they requested, like Phi Kappa Psi, which requested $14,162.79 and received $2,104.26, AIGA which requested $12,124.30 and received $3,548.10, and PRSSA which requested $17,963.08 and received $1,480.00.
Loyola University College Republicans, Loyola Jazz Club and Black Student Union received the most funding after cuts were finalized.
There was a great demand for funding on behalf of the organizations this year. The Appropriations Committee reduced budgets as they saw fit to meet their goal.
Sable Lefrere can be reached at [email protected]
