KSG Finance Council Describes Budgeting Process
Isaac Meadows
Issue date: 7/16/10 Section: News
Where does your $122 student activity fee go? The KSG budget, printed elsewhere in this issue of The Technician, is the simplest answer. Still, the perennial questions are likely to arise. Just how much of the budget goes to food? (Usually about 20%) Who plans and executes big-ticket KSG events like late night breakfast and wings night? (The KSG Operations Council) What is "Flowers and Gifts" all about? (A constitution-specified fund for courtesy items in case of a student or staff member death) Who decides which club budget items are funded and which are not, and how do they decide? This latter question required an interview with the KSG Finance Council.
I sat down with Heather Allen and Tim Litchty, the current Finance Council Treasurer and Secretary, to try to understand how the budget is formulated. Clubs fill out budget request forms about halfway through the term, listing the expenses for different events they would like to hold the next term. The Finance Council, in a closed budgeting session, reviews each of these requests. First, Tim says, the Council adds all requested funds and compares the grand total to the next term's budget. This gives them a target dollar amount to cut from the budget. "Then," says Tim, "we go through each of the clubs to make cuts." The first item reduced is food. If a club requests more than $3 per member per week for meetings, their food budget is reduced to match that amount.
Once food is dealt with, club event and activity requests are culled or reduced. "We try to keep equal proportions" says Heather, adding that a club requesting a high number of activities per week may see relatively large cuts. Participation documentation also plays a role. According to Tim and Heather, additional deductions may occur if club sign-in sheets are missing or if attendance is not regularly high.
As for what events are approved and what are not, "It varies club by club," Tim says. In response to questions about unique line items like Anime Club's Cosplay Ball, Aerosciences Club's Bottle Rocket Blastoff, or Mud Boggers' Truck Pull and Demolition Derby, "Just because it isn't your kind of event doesn't mean we shouldn't fund it." The Finance Council gets more than just an event name and a line item cost; in the club's budget request is a complete description of each event. Within financial constraints, "If the event relates to the club, we'll approve it," promises the Finance Council.
Editor's Note: Do you have questions about Student Government, the administration, or academic departments but don't know who to ask? Write to The Technician at atechni¬cian@kettering.edu.
I sat down with Heather Allen and Tim Litchty, the current Finance Council Treasurer and Secretary, to try to understand how the budget is formulated. Clubs fill out budget request forms about halfway through the term, listing the expenses for different events they would like to hold the next term. The Finance Council, in a closed budgeting session, reviews each of these requests. First, Tim says, the Council adds all requested funds and compares the grand total to the next term's budget. This gives them a target dollar amount to cut from the budget. "Then," says Tim, "we go through each of the clubs to make cuts." The first item reduced is food. If a club requests more than $3 per member per week for meetings, their food budget is reduced to match that amount.
Once food is dealt with, club event and activity requests are culled or reduced. "We try to keep equal proportions" says Heather, adding that a club requesting a high number of activities per week may see relatively large cuts. Participation documentation also plays a role. According to Tim and Heather, additional deductions may occur if club sign-in sheets are missing or if attendance is not regularly high.
As for what events are approved and what are not, "It varies club by club," Tim says. In response to questions about unique line items like Anime Club's Cosplay Ball, Aerosciences Club's Bottle Rocket Blastoff, or Mud Boggers' Truck Pull and Demolition Derby, "Just because it isn't your kind of event doesn't mean we shouldn't fund it." The Finance Council gets more than just an event name and a line item cost; in the club's budget request is a complete description of each event. Within financial constraints, "If the event relates to the club, we'll approve it," promises the Finance Council.
Editor's Note: Do you have questions about Student Government, the administration, or academic departments but don't know who to ask? Write to The Technician at atechni¬cian@kettering.edu.
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