The Student Association Assembly passed all but one Finance Board budget recommendation on Monday night in Maxwell Auditorium.

The budget votes were originally planned to span two SA meetings on Monday and Wednesday night. However, Parliamentarian Joan Gabel allowed all of the budgets to be voted on because the budget votes took less time than anticipated. Most budget votes were unanimous.

Budget requests that were deemed incomplete, such as Jerk Magazine’s request were not included in the list of budgets put before the Assembly, Gabel said.

The Finance Board also recommended zero dollars for student organizations that did not attend their budget hearings, said comptroller Andrew Urankar.

Syracuse University Ambulance representatives attended the budget vote and requested more money from the assembly than the Finance Board recommended for SUA.

Syracuse University Ambulance requested $49,200 from the student activity fee and received $17,390. The budget recommendation did not fund for medical supplies for a recently purchased ambulance. The SUA budget recommendation passed 14 to five.

‘This is not a service that should be funded out of your fees,’ said Roy Baker, associate dean of students. ‘Tell the university never again.’

SUA missed their budget hearing on Sunday due to a miscommunication, said SUA representative Jared Birnbaum. An unidentified SUA officer, who is not a current officer, was notified of the budget hearing, Birnbaum said. Birnbaum called this method of notification ‘inappropriate.’

‘We’re currently on a budget freeze,’ Birnbaum said.

‘I don’t want to be in the ambulance that doesn’t have stuff in it,’ said Assembly member and former Daily Orange staff writer Michael Lopardi with regard to the unsupplied ambulance.

All student organizations unsatisfied with the amount of money that they were allocated can apply for more money through appeals, Urankar said.

‘They didn’t do their homework to get there on time,’ Urankar said. ‘We are trying to be consistent … you’re shooting the Finance Board in the foot.’

There is about $50,000 left over for appeals, Urankar said. Urankar said he expects $129,000 in requests for appeals.

‘They’ll be lucky if they get (additional) funding,’ Urankar said.

According to Finance Board member Selina Wangila, the Finance Board did the best it could with the SUA budget request.

The only budget that the Assembly did not pass was the Finance Board recommendation for the Student Association. The bill was tabled twice through a majority vote before the meeting was adjourned and remains to be voted upon.

The Student Association budget requested $69,600, a smaller request than previous years, according to SA President Travis Mason. According to Urankar, the budget request was 1.43 percent less than last years budget request.

The Finance Board reduced the request to $53,300, a larger budget recommendation for the student association than previous years, according to Urankar.

‘For us not to get the adequate funds is a little frustrating personally,’ said SA Executive Vice President Eric Crites.

According to Crites, the Finance Board did not evaluate what Mason requested. Crites said Mason requested that the Finance Board remove housing stipends for the SA president and comptroller from the budget. Mason was not in attendance because of personal reasons, Crites said.

‘Stipends don’t benefit the student body,’ Crites said.

University Union budget requests for comedians John Leguizamo and Paul Mooney, a tier 2 concert and a category B speaker, respectively, passed unanimously with full funding. UU’s Juice Jam, Bandersnatch and UU Cinemas movie screenings passed unanimously with partial funding. UU also requested, but did not receive, funding for appearances by David Cross and Stephen Lynch, another tier 2 concert and category C speaker.

‘One group is not more deserving than another,’ Urankar said. ‘We just didn’t have enough money for all of them.’

Published on April 18, 2005 at 12:00 pm