[76] in UA Discuss
Re: UA budgeting principles
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer))
Fri Nov 6 11:58:44 2009
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:58:13 -0500
From: "Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer)" <ua-treasurer@MIT.EDU>
To: "Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer)" <ua-treasurer@mit.edu>
CC: ua-senate@mit.edu, ua-discuss@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <4AE739F7.3000307@mit.edu>
I guess nobody cares that much? I don't need guidance, but I think
Senate giving me guidance soon would be really productive (and would
make the budgeting meetings less painful). Unfortunately, committee
chairs have already started giving me budgets (and the budget deadline
was supposed to be last night and is now Saturday night), so we're
already towards the end of the useful interval, but some discussion,
consensus-building, and maybe even a resolution on Monday would still be
useful.
~~Alex
Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer) wrote:
> Hi again,
>
> I wanted to follow up on this thread. Spring budgeting will be starting
> up shortly --- committee chairs just received the budget request, and
> then I'll assemble a budget in the next week or two.
>
> A brief (and rather incomplete) summary of the thread so far:
> * SBC: Contact Paul (ua-speaker@mit.edu) (and, ideally, me ---
> ua-treasurer@mit.edu) if you'd like to be especially involved in the
> spring budget
> * PLUS was something the UA could get started and then hand off
> * Focus on student groups: "there is a natural, institutional bias
> toward spending the money ourselves" that should be counteracted
> * On the other hand, do special projects like the produce market
> benefit more people than a BBQ on Kresge or something does?
> * Move fall budgeting back to the spring?
> * Move elections to the spring?
> * Food
> * Collection jar for Senate food?
> * 14% of budget?
> * Necessary incentive for committees?
> * (Some?) class councils don't do it
> * A lot of variety on how much committees request --- look at
> spending this semester and standardize?
> * Class councils... exist. (Read that thread if you want more...)
>
> I have semi-intentionally didn't include names in the above --- if you
> want more details, I encourage you to find the original messages --- as
> a bonus, you may see tidbits that your didn't remember.
>
> Anyway... if any of those discussions are worth continuing, feel free. I
> encourage you to change the subject line to reflect the subtopic you're
> addressing, though.
>
> If Senate wishes to provide me with direction, please due so at the next
> (Nov 2) meeting, or at the latest the Nov 9 meeting. After that, it
> becomes harder for me to make major changes while still being able to
> provide a quality, well-reviewed budget to Senate well in advance of the
> Nov 30 non-voting budget meeting.
>
> ~~Alex
>
> Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer) wrote:
>> A few of you have emailed me off-list. While that's great, I'm much
>> more likely to take action if a consensus seems to be emerging on the
>> list or a bill/resolution gets passed. When all I get are private
>> emails, I can't as easily tell the difference between people being
>> mostly one way because the other side is apathetic (and doesn't
>> realize that their side is "losing"), or because Senate genuinely
>> prefers that way.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Alex
>>
>> Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer) wrote:
>>> As several people have pointed out, the UA spends quite a bit of
>>> money on events (about a third of last semester's budget) and focused
>>> projects (like PLUS --- about a tenth of last semester's UA budget).
>>> As Andrew Lukmann pointed out last week, committees are spending
>>> almost twice as much in Fall 2009's budget as in Spring 2007's budget.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, it is now a little bit late to make major changes to
>>> the Fall 2009 budget. Last week's meeting was intended to allow that,
>>> and we spent a great deal of time on it then. I also solicited
>>> feedback late Friday night (or really Saturday morning), and didn't
>>> receive any. Of course, you are well within your rights to amend the
>>> budget at this point. (Though Athletics Weekend has already happened,
>>> so I'd rather you didn't amend that...)
>>>
>>> However, the Spring 2010 budget has not begun being compiled. In
>>> preparing the the Fall 2009 budget, I (and I believe committee chairs
>>> and the Special Budgetary Committee) generally followed precedent as
>>> to events and amounts.
>>>
>>> In some sense, there are (at least) two options for guiding
>>> principles to take in producing the budget:
>>> (1) Many of the UA-run events are more useful than the events and
>>> programming (Finboard-funded) student groups would spend the money on
>>> (2) Alternatively, that events and programs such as Athletics Weekend
>>> or PLUS aren't worth taking the money away from those student groups
>>>
>>> We've recently been defaulting to the former guiding principle.
>>> However, I would encourage the Senate to seriously consider which is
>>> preferable and pass appropriate legislation indicating a preference.
>>>
>>> I would be *thrilled* to have such guidance, and would happily
>>> incorporate it into next semester's budget. (I warn you, however,
>>> that committee chairs will probably be asked to begin budgeting in
>>> about two weeks.)
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Alex Dehnert
>>> UA Treasurer
