The Student Services Finance Committee held its first budget hearings to determine funding levels for eligible student organizations Monday, beginning with presentations from Badger Catholic and Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán de UW-Madison.
According to the group’s website, Badger Catholic is a student organization focused on creating opportunities for volunteer engagement and a campus-wide discussion of faith.
The group requested a budget of $107,953.95 for fiscal year 2013-’14.
Badger Catholic’s Finance Chair Nick Checker said this year’s request represents a 9.2 percent decrease from last year’s budget due to a restructuring of leadership positions and changes to scheduled trainings.
“Badger Catholic sees itself as a very fiscally responsible org,” Checker said. “We think it’s [unreasonable] to ask for a budget increase in these tough economic times.”
M.E.Ch.A members spoke about the important role their organization plays on campus in using art to encourage political and cultural engagement at the group’s funding eligibility hearing earlier this year.
The group requested approval of a total budget of $46,012 for fiscal year 2013-’14.
According to M.E.Ch.A member Valeria Cerda, the differences in this year’s request can be partially explained by alterations to the group’s salaried academic year and summer positions.
Cerda said the group’s summer positions have become especially important to the groups success.
“Summer is where most of planning happens, where we’re able to create a better program for the academic year,” Cerda said.
According to SSFC Chair Ellie Bruecker, groups must demonstrate why they need a certain amount of funding and why that level of funding is necessary and reasonable in order to be fully approved by the committee.
“It’s a matter of SSFC members looking at what a group has been able to expense in the last year, what they’re planning to spend money on and whether those requests are reasonable,” Bruecker said.
The committee will vote on both budgets in its Thursday meeting.
