Activity fee carryover to be spent by MSA auxiliaries
MSA estimates it will have more than $61,000 in leftover fees.
Published March 23, 2010
The Missouri Students Association estimates it will have more than $61,000 in unused student fee money this year and will be spending down that carryover to help its auxiliaries.
MSA, responsible for $1.4 million in student activity fees, will be submitting and deliberating the fiscal year 2011 budget in the upcoming weeks. Carryover is a process by which the unused money is factored into the next year's budget and redistributed.
"Each group fills out an estimated carryover," MSA Vice President Danielle Bellis said. "However, if they want to spend the rest of the money, they can."
As vice president, Bellis is in charge of creating and overseeing the budget. All the organizations or committees considered a part of MSA submit their expected carryover and budget reports to her. The budget will be submitted to Senate today.
"Where carryover becomes a problem is when you have a lot of it," Bellis said. "If you have too much, then you are not using student fees properly, but it's also like a safety net in that you don't want to overspend."
Bellis said her job is to spend down carryover to a more reasonable number, though ideal carryover is zero. In April 2009, MSA passed legislation that approved the fiscal year 2010 budget's carryover to be used for KCOU/88.1 FM and MUTV/Channel 23 costs for moving into the student center. Last year the presented total cost for KCOU written in the bill was $140,100, and MUTV has presented total costs of $350,000. KCOU and MUTV have been fundraising money themselves, Bellis said. For the money they make on their own, MSA matches it from its budget.
Bellis said the estimated carryover this year is $61,026. The end of the MU fiscal year is in June.
"This year we're in a different situation because of the new student center," Bellis said. "Each department and auxiliary needs money to fund their equipment."
To move to the student center, KCOU needs to rewire and buy new equipment. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 was $36,725, and the approved budget was $28,125. The proposed budget for KCOU during fiscal year 2010 was $32,318 according to a student activity fee budget summary.
"Since they're auxiliaries of MSA, it's our job to make sure that they can run appropriately," Bellis said.
Via the MSA legislation, KCOU requested the money for the main studio, a new live studio and a production studio. MUTV is in need of a green screen, lighting, studio and editing supplies.
There are nine auxiliaries under MSA, but other than KCOU and MUTV, the budget requests have been essentially the same, Bellis said.
Although carryover estimates are made, the actual carryover is often a lot more. In a presentation prepared by former MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays, it was reported the carryover for fiscal year 2008 was expected to be $40,474, and the actual carryover was $134,701, a difference of $94,277. According to the report, carryover has been increasing since 2006.
The student activity fees are determined based on campus enrollment; each student pays $156.57 in activity fees each year. There is a process for allocating those fees within MSA that includes Bellis, the MSA budget committee and MSA Senate, Student Life fiscal officer Cathy Hurst said.
"This year, enrollment was higher than expected so there was about $40,000 extra for the budget," Bellis said.
The extra money for the budget is factored into contingency and reserve.
"Since it wasn't originally planned for, it will carry over if it isn't spent," Bellis said. "Money that is carried over comes from people not spending their full budget allocations."
Mizzou Tiger Watch, a new committee in MSA aiming to make campus safer at night, requested $5,200 from the contingency and reserve money. The committee is requesting the money for walkie-talkies, flashlights, badges and other miscellaneous costs.
The carryover expenditures on KCOU and MUTV are a onetime allocation, and there has been no legislation regarding what will be done with future carryover or whether student fees would be reduced.
"I would call a lot of carryover a problem," Bellis said. "The amount that Senate has and has had in the past is not a problem. We're working on lowering our carryover as much as possible."