MSA budget carryover tops $120,000
Potential destinations for the money include STRIPES and other organizations.
Published Sept. 21, 2010
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Justin Mohn, Missouri Students Association Operations Committee chairman, speaks at a MSA meeting Thursday. Senators discussed purchasing clickers to take attendance and vote at the meeting.
The Missouri Students Association carryover from the last fiscal year totals up to $125,418.
The 2010 fiscal year ended in June and MSA Vice President Danielle Bellis said halfway through this fiscal year, MSA calculated $61,026 of expected carryover.
MSA advanced $70,000 from Contingency and Reserve funds to MUTV/Channel 23 and KCOU/88.1 in May. At that time, there was $81,063 in Contingency and Reserve.
After paying $12,321 in old bills, $125,418 was the remaining amount added to the MSA Contingency and Reserve funds Thursday. The total sum of money sitting in the Contingency and Reserve Fund is undetermined as the funds take up to three weeks to transfer using PeopleSoft, MSA President Tim Noce said.
Reducing the total carryover is something MSA Budget Committee Chairman Matt Sheppard is already discussing with Senate.
“We’ve talked with the Alumni Association and Student Affairs and a majority of it will be used for programming,” Sheppard said.
A Homecoming concert, much like the fall concert, has also been discussed as a possibility. The Alumni Association brought this idea to MSA.
“Next year is the centennial of Homecoming, so it would work out really well,” Sheppard said.
Bellis said it is still uncertain if this event will occur at all, but it is being considered.
Sheppard said MSA hopes to give a portion of the money to STRIPES so they are able to have more volunteers and more resources, as there have been requests for them to operate on Wednesdays and on holidays.
“STRIPES uses the money we give them to help people, so it would be good to give them a portion of it,” Noce said.
MSA will keep a small percentage of the contingency and reserve for their own use, Bellis said.
“The contingency and reserve account is a safety net for unexpected events, like budgeting for salary increases,” Bellis said.
The MSA carryover is determined by how much or how little each organization or auxiliary has spent in the first semester. In January, each estimates how much money they will spend in spring semester based on how much they spent in the fall. Bellis said every organization overestimates how much they will use in case they do need the extra money for an event.
“The projected amount is usually smaller than the actual amount,” Bellis said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Whatever is not spent by the beginning of June is considered carryover and is put in the contingency and reserve fund. Noce said the high carryover is attributable to the continuous increase in enrollment each year, which increases the number of over-credit hours being taken. Noce said the student fee is based determined by credit hours.
“We’ve had record numbers of students the past few years, so we were expecting it,” MSA President Tim Noce said.
Comments (3)
5:08 p.m., Sept. 21, 2010
Shane S. said:
There was a quote from someone in the wellness resource center along the lines of STRIPES is the best thing that MSA does. That's true, but partly because it is run by student volunteers who genuinely care about their fellow students, and not the self-righteous bureaucratic wannabes that make up MSA. STRIPES is one of the best things Mizzou can lay claim to.
1:47 a.m., Sept. 22, 2010
John Doe said:
Why doesn't the suggested allotment to STRIPES go to the STRIPES endowment, as opposed to current operations? STRIPES is going great as is. There is no doubt it needs to expand, but when the program is also trying to raise $1,000,000 for its long term survival (translating as liabilities to MSA), the idea should be a no brainer.
2:56 p.m., Sept. 21, 2010
David Teeghman said:
The photograph that goes with this story is mislabeled. That is Justin Mohn you see in the photograph, who's chairman of Ops Committee. Not Greg Loeffler.