ELLEN KURT ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Student senate decided to scale back this year when handing out allocations.
Instead of giving out $35,000 in allocations, they gave out $30,000. Treasurer-elect Justin Erickson said it was a combination of factors.
“The decision to give out less was based off of a consensus from budget review committee, it was something I really pushed for being treasurer next year. I think the reason we did that is the budget at Wartburg is really uncertain right now. . . We wanted to cut down a little bit with the economic times,” Erickson said.
Many groups across campus are receiving much less than they expected. One of those groups is Alliance. Two years ago, they received $2,000, but senate gave the group only $450 for next year.
“We’ll have to do more planning ahead and scale back on spending,” Alliance President Stephen Huff said.
Erickson said the reason why Alliance received less was due to the college charging to use Neumann Auditorium.
“We don’t want to give out funding for that until we talk to the college about why they are doing that. We have never been charged for Neumann, why are we being charged now? . . . That was the main reason their funding was less, because their drag show was a significant part of their request,” Erickson said.
He said once they find out the reasons, they would like to work out a deal so nobody has to be charged for Neumann and that could save significant money for senate and Alliance.
“This scaling down will not be detrimental to the group,” Huff said. “We will have to re-work some things, but Alliance will still be here.”
Any college-sponsored group could have applied for allocations on March 26. They were required to fill out an application and then schedule a meeting with senate. The group then sends a representative to the meeting, usually the treasurer or president, and they speak for a few minutes about their request.
Erickson said the budget review committee and the president and president-elect get to question them about other things in regard to what the money is going to be used for and what they have done in the past.
There is brief discussion among the budget review committee as to what would be appropriate and what they can give out based on budget constraints and then they allocate the money.
The most money given out was $11,000 to service groups. Erickson said this was based on precedent in the most recent years. He said service trips always have a large operating budget.
“We feel they are such a great organization and there are so many people involved. They always use the money well,” Erickson said.
Erickson said he has not heard much negative feedback, mostly compliments and thank yous, but if any group has any concerns or has something they would like to ask about the allocations, he would be happy to address that.
“If groups are disappointed, we would love to hear, because we are always looking to improve.”
Huff said Alliance is still looking to work with senate next year for funding and resources.