The Student Association’s mid-year report found that more than half of the SA’s cosponsorship funds remain, the chair of the SA’s Finance Committee said Tuesday, adding that student organizations that have not made good use of their SA money may risk having it reclaimed.
There is currently $166,064 remaining in the cosponsorship fund for the year, part of which is expected to be allocated to 15 or 20 new organizations in the coming weeks. At the same time, organizations that have spent little to no money this year, or that have negative balances, are being asked to submit explanatory reports to the Finance Committee, said Connor Walsh, U-At Large.
“The purpose of the review is to look at everyone’s spending, and to see if anything’s irregular,” Walsh said.
Organizations will be evaluated “on a case-by-case basis,” Walsh said, with particular attention paid to “a handful of things that are a little fishy.” Some organizations have valid reasons for not spending their allocations, Walsh said, like a student organization that runs a summer camp, which does not hold programming in the fall semester.
Organizations that do not comply with the review request will automatically be fined 2 percent of their SA allocation.
Last year, there was $110,000 at the mid-year report – a record amount at the time.
In October, the Student Association approved nearly $380,000 in initial allocations funding to more than 230 organizations. Allocations are meant to fund an organization’s operational costs, and the Finance Committee awards separate cosponsorships to fund specific activities.
Walsh said that any fines collected would be put back into the cosponsorship account.
A majority of student fee money remains in the cosponsorship account, Walsh said, because the Finance Committee’s goal was to spend no more than 50 percent of the fund to ensure there was money left over to fund events in the spring.
“The Finance Committee’s been very responsible this year,” Walsh said at Tuesday night’s SA meeting. “Barring any huge expenses, it’s my prediction that we will have a substantial amount left at the end of the year.”
At the senate meeting, Walsh mentioned the possibility of using some of the surplus to work with Program Board to bring a bigger act to the annual Fountain Fling in the spring.
Money left over is rolled into the SA’s account for next year, but Walsh noted that last year, there were no excess funds rolled over.
Executive Vice President Jason Lifton said that he agrees with the Finance Committee’s plan to recover unused funds.
“If there’s an org that’s not using any money and we can figure out a way to give it to someone else, that’s great,” Lifton said. “Realistically they’re not taking away money from anybody unless there’s a reason to.”
