The Associated Students of Madison heard proposals for the ASM Internal Budget and the Campus Services Fund Wednesday.
ASM Chair Brandon Williams said the biggest change from last year's internal budget is the addition of a staff member who would serve as a lobbyist.
""Obviously this is a tentative position at this point. We haven't really gone through all the details as of yet,"" Williams said.
The Division of Student Life allows ASM to have 11 staff members, of which they currently employ only 10. The Division of Student Life said it would take away the to have an 11th staff member if ASM left the position unfilled.
The lobbyist's main duty would be to establish relationships at the State Capitol. ASM estimated the lobbyist's salary at $60,000. ASM's overall internal budget is $1,192,754.05.
Some members were concerned about who would have control over the position since they are hired through the university.
ASM Chair Brandon Williams said these concerns will be addressed as they come up.
Student Services Finance Committee Chair Matthew Manes proposed the Campus Services Fund.
This fund would enable any member of the Student Council to propose a service they would like to offer students.
After being approved by the SSFC and the Student Council, ASM would either control the service themselves, contract someone else to provide the service or find a related student group to provide the service with financial assistance from ASM.
Manes said he was pleased with how ASM received his proposal and thinks the concerns brought up will be easily resolved.
""Most of them were logistical concerns about implementation and not necessarily philosophical ones, and so all we'll have to do is simply write language that addresses those,"" Manes said.
Shared Governance Chair Kyle VandenLangenberg asked how ASM and SSFC will prevent costs from becoming excessive.
Manes said they should trust that future student government leaders will have good judgment about how much money to spend.
ASM will debate these proposals next Wednesday.
