SG president concerned about unspent money
USC’s Student Senate will take a second look at its annual budget tonight after Student Body President Joe Wright vetoed a first version passed by the body last week.
The move, which some saw as a drastic surprise, came because of how Student Government funds student organizations.
SG doles out about $185,000 raised from student activity fees to student organizations each year, supporting conferences, travel, activities, retreats and meetings of all sorts. And though sometimes almost 100 organizations fight for the funds — requesting more than double than what is actually available — tens of thousands of dollars are often left unused at the end of each year.
This year, 92 organizations asked for about $355,000 in the year’s first funding session. SG allocates money twice a year, and only about $100,000 was available in the first session.
SG officials and Wright want that changed, but how to do so has left them somewhat at odds. Wright wants the Senate finance committee, which controls all allocations, to consider more historical data when deciding who gets what. Wright said organizations that consistently leave money on the table that they’re allotted shouldn’t be given money they are likely to waste; too many others could use the money, he said.
“I just couldn’t sign a document that I didn’t agree with,” Wright said. “I campaigned on fiscal principles.”
But Sen. Coy Gibson, chair of the Senate finance committee, said the organization already looks at historical trends. He agrees with Wright that all money isn’t currently being spent and the process is broken on some levels, but Gibson said SG will soon start a Redistribution Fund, where money not spent by organizations in the semester is put back into a pot for others to request.
Four senators voted against the budget last week.