Tomes submits budget draft

By Jenna Youngs

Published Feb. 25, 2005

The most significant changes to the Missouri Students Association 2005-2006 budget might be to the Department of Student Activities, MSA Vice President Cheryl Tomes said.

Tomes completed her draft of the budget Thursday afternoon, more than a week ahead of schedule. She said the budget would not change much from 2004-2005, but there would be some adjustments to DSA's budget.

"I was surprised at how quickly and timely she finished it, because she didn't finish some meetings until this week, but I knew she was trying to get it done before this weekend," MSA President Tony Luetkemeyer said.

Total budget expenditures rose from $1,062,738 for 2004-2005 to $1,075,767 for the 2005-2006 budget. Tomes said the increase is the result of an increase in student population and inflation.

Because there is no longer a Fine Arts Committee in DSA, the $27,000 allocated to that committee in last year's budget will be reallocated to other committees within DSA, including the Special Events Committee, College Music Committee and International Programming Committee, Tomes said.

DSA Director Nick Gertsema said he was excited to learn the International Programming Committee would receive an increase of $12,500 from student fees.

"That makes my whole day," he said. "With this whole diversity kick on campus, we can finally do some diverse events."

Gertsema said he requested more funds for the International Programming Committee because the committee only has enough money to fund two events a year.

"IPC needs more because right now the International Bazaar and International Fashion Show dries out their funds," he said. "They'd like to do more but can't. An increase would allow them to do so."

Gertsema said he requested an increase to the Special Events Committee because he would like to reinstall a traveling committee that would plan trips for students to sporting events or other cities.

"The committee would set up flights, hotels and tickets to events for students at discounted rates," he said. "I'd like to set up a trip to New Orleans over Halloween. The committee also could set up trips to bowl games if our teams get better. If it's something students like, we'll create a separate committee separate from Special Events, but it's something we'd like to try."

Gertsema said he also requested more funds for the College Music Committee because booking muscians has become increasingly costly.

"Honorariums have skyrocketed," he said. "We used to be able to get a band like the Counting Crows for $30,000, but now they're like $60,000. There also was a huge cut in the committee's budget in the mid-90s and we've been rebounding ever since."

The budget now needs to be approved by Student Life Fiscal Officer Cathy Hurst and then will be sent to the Senate Student Fee Review Committee for approval, SFRC Vice Chairwoman Tara Brandenburger said.

"SFRC will talk before we look at the budget — what our goals are and what we'd like to see," she said. "Then we'll meet with department directors like Cheryl did and talk about why they requested what they did."

If SFRC approves the budget, it will go to MSA Senate for approval. Once approved, the budget will go into effect July 1, Tomes said.

Gertsema said he's pleased with the increases some of his committees might receive, but they always could use more.

"There isn't enough pie to divvy from," he said. "Compared to other schools, we're well below the amount we should be at."