How IUSA is spending your $97,000

President and junior Peter SerVaas said he estimates each student pays IUSA about $5 per academic year entirely through student fees.

Between $3 and $4 of that amount goes to IUSA Funding Board, an entity separate from the IUSA executive administration that distributes funding to student groups.

Between $1.25 and $1.50 goes to the Collegiate Readership Program, which gives students access to The New York Times and USA Today with the swipe of a CampusAccess Card. The remaining amount is allocated to IUSA’s administrative budget, which this year totals $97,198.

SerVaas said the amount paid per semester by each student is subject to change based on his or her enrollment status (full time or part time), graduate or undergraduate status and whether he or she is studying on campus or abroad.

IUSA Congress accepted an updated administrative budget proposed by the current Btown administration Tuesday. The budget does not reflect any spending beyond what was approved last fall, but details ways in which the administration has redistributed funds from one budget area to another.

TASK FORCES

Under the Btown administration’s executive structure, five task forces of approximately 10 people each handle the “5 B’s” on Btown’s platform. The newly accepted budget more than doubles task force funding from $12,000 to $29,000. As of today, $9,873.98
of that $29,000 has been spent.

Vice President for Administration and senior Jack McCarthy said this $17,000 increase is task force allocation was possible because the administration chose not to rehire an executive assistant, which made about $30,000 worth of funds available for other uses.

“When we took that out, that was allocated to other accounts that we felt would better serve the needs of the average student,” McCarthy said.

DIRECTORS

At the start of its term April 16, 2009, the Btown administration budgeted $15,000 toward the salary of a graduate assistant to be hired to help with administrative needs after their executive assistant was not rehired, treasurer and junior Jen Chen said.

However, they still had to pay the executive assistant $6,112.26 for the remainder of his work.

Chen said when it was decided that a graduate assistant wasn’t necessary, that amount was allocated to other funds. Along with some of the funding made available by the decision not to rehire an executive assistant, more money was allocated to IUSA Directors, an IUSA department that organizes projects in areas of volunteerism, women’s affairs, sustainability and diversity.

Chen said these increased funds will help cover the cost of digitally archiving student government files and documents, which IUSA hopes to put into effect soon. McCarthy said this would also help departments promote their projects, which he said is a more responsible use of student funds.

“We feel that better promoting these big initiatives by spending $50 or $100 is a better use of student money than having an executive assistant or having phone lines for everybody or traveling as much,” McCarthy said.

TRAVEL

IUSA’s updated budget provides for $1,500 in travel expenses. So far, $611.04 has
been spent.

McCarthy said most of travel expenses covered trips to student government conferences. Representatives were sent to the Associated Big Ten Schools Conference.

“The reason we attend those is to pick up on ideas that other student governments are implementing at their schools, to build on their ideas, to share our good ideas that have worked,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said IUSA declines most of the student government conference invitations it receives.

Chen and McCarthy said other travel expenses covered mileage used by executives who made summer trips to meet with University vice presidents and vice provosts.

“Our administration took it very seriously that we were in office for a year, the calendar year versus the school year,” McCarthy said.

CUTS

McCarthy said the current Btown administration has worked to ensure student funds are being used responsibly. He highlighted the cutting of as many as 20 unused office phone lines and release of an executive assistant as examples.

“Despite the fact that we had a great executive assistant and he did a great job with IUSA, we didn’t think it was a responsible thing to spend money on, because it was benefiting such a small group of students — mainly us,” McCarthy said.

As a senior, McCarthy has had the opportunity to see other administrations in action. He said while he respects their work and recognized they had to make tough decisions, he believes the Btown administration has been more responsible with funds.

The Btown administration elected not to renew the $8,000 bus wrap advertisement used by previous administrations. The bus wrap advertisement is the black, red and white paint that covers an entire Campus Bus.

McCarthy went on to say that IU’s financial climate has changed because of the cuts in state funding. With more tuition increases on the horizon, McCarthy said IUSA should pay even closer attention to fiscal responsibility.

“We don’t want to give students any reason to think that we’re not using the fees they pay responsibly,” he said.

INCREASES

While IUSA’s revised administrative budget is no larger than its previous one, some funds were reallocated to cover other increased expenses. Chen said these expenses included office supplies and office furnishings, as well as technology.

Three new computers and RAM upgrades on several other computers were purchased in an effort to update what Chen described as very outdated technology.

Both budgets allocate $2,500 for technology expenses. The revised budget reflects $2,185.60 worth of expenditures to date for technology.

Chen also said printer cartridges, legal pads, pens, envelopes and similar office supplies proved to be a greater expense than initially anticipated. She said these items would be purchased and would roll over to future administrations.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Although only $48,307.95 of the budget has been spent to date, the new budget anticipates large future expenses before the end of the year for digital archiving and the GPS bus tracking initiative, one of Btown’s “5 B’s.”

SerVaas said IUSA administrations have traditionally had no surplus left over. In fact, SerVaas said administrations have generally left office with a budget deficit. However, Chen said she does not expect the budget to go into the red.

“I highly doubt that we would spend more than we were budgeted,” she said.

If surplus is left at the end of the Btown administration’s term, it will be rolled over to the next administration.

Chen said the current budget will remain in effect until the next administration sets a new budget. This ensures that the new administration will not operate on a budget that does not have congressional approval, Chen said.