The preliminary internal budget for the Associated Students of Madison’s 2017 fiscal year was previewed at the Coordinating Council meeting Wednesday.
Ray Scanlon, a financial advisor to ASM, went over the prospective budget line-by-line with the council. Chair Carmen Goséy encouraged members to ask questions and think critically about the proposed amounts before the budget is brought for debate at an upcoming Student Council meeting. A final budget must be submitted to ASM’s Student Services Finance Committee by Nov. 9, according to ASM bylaws.
Due to a change in council members’ compensation from stipends to an hourly wage, the budget plans to dip into ASM’s reserves. Goséy said that she plans to “re-work” parts of the budget to find ways to offset this in the upcoming weeks.
Some line items showed more money allocated to student groups than in the past. Both the Rape Crisis Center and the Tenant Resource Center had higher budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, and some council members asked if this could be changed to allocate those funds to other areas. However, Scanlon explained that due to contracts negotiated by past council members those line items could only be changed when the contracts came up for renewal.
“It’s about $1.4 million, and so it’s kind of cool that people in this room and Student Council get to write the budget,” said Goséy.
Before concluding the meeting, Goséy announced that the Westboro Baptist Church will visit campus for a half-hour Oct. 20.
“They come for a half-hour, say whatever they want to say, and then they leave in order to stir up the people that are around them,” Goséy said.
Goséy will speak with the Faculty Senate Monday to discuss how ASM and faculty can support each other to stand with students on campus during the event.
