THE STAG IS RUNNING...

!RHETT FOR VP!

(Because he's about RESPONSIVE RESPONSIBILITY)

RE-BUDGETING

    Last weeks Student Senate meeting (Feb. 14) was a rather heated event. 

     The hot topic: ASCMC budget restructuring.

     Background:

     The ASCMC Executive Board called the budgeting committee together last week and asked them to restructure the '99/'00 ASCMC budget to compensate for those organizations that spent more than their budget allowed.

     The budgetting committee was thus asked to come up with over $40,000. 
    
     Where were they supposed to get such a large amount of money?  One large answer is the Band Fund.

     The Band Fund is an ASCMC fund that, naturally, is allocated for attracting bands to the Claremont Colleges, specifically CMC.  Good bands are relatively expensive.  The Band Fund, therefore, was allocated over $15,000 this year--$15,000 that the budgeting committee is proposing that we use to pay for others' administrative and managerial mistakes.

     Eliminating the Band Fund is not necessary.  Such an act will simply place undue burden on DAC and SAC accounts for the rest of the year because DAC and SAC will most likely seek to secure a band for this semester anyway.

     I have talked to the SAC chair, Josh Walter, and the DAC chair, Dan Imdieke, and Jim Nauls about elimination of the Band Fund.  They are all against eliminating it.

     Why?

     Simple.  We are working with Pomona College towards getting Outkast to come to Big Bridges for a concert this semester.  Not only can we go in half on the event with Pomona if we retain some of the Band Fund, we may actually make a profit on the event.

     What does that mean?

     It means that we will be able to go to a good concert for relatively cheap.  It means that we will be able to have an active social life before and after the Outkast concert because DAC and SAC will have more of our money to use for our social scene.  It means that, if we make a profit on the concert (a good possibility according to the social coordinators on campus), we will have less of a debt to burden us next year (even with the budget restructuring, the ASCMC will likely not be able to pay for all of the past administrative errors).

     My proposal:

     At the Senate meeting on Feb. 14, I proposed to keep $8,000 of the Band Fund.  This will allow us to front the money for ticket sales to students, which will be returned virtually instantly to the Band Fund (this happened with Dave Mathews).  In such a situation, we suffer no loss.  In fact, we only gain.  For we have the pleasure of a band in addition to our other, more regular, social experiences.

     Debate on my proposal was heated.  Few people were there to vote on the issue.  And, eventually, a qourum was lost and no vote could be cast on my proposal.

     You can, therefore, go the next Senate meeting and have your voice heard on the issue.  Or, if you cannot attend the 10 o'clock meeting in Bauer Forum, you can e-mail me at rfrancisco@cmcvax.mckenna.edu, and I will submit your statements to the Senate.