Five Student Association assembly representatives were appointed to the recently created Special Committee on the Budget Wednesday night.

The goal of the committee is to review SA’s roughly $90,000 operating budget and assess how the money is being spent.

Phil Porter, a freshman College of Arts and Sciences representative, will chair the committee, said Ben Jones, speaker of the assembly, who appointed members to the committee. Arts and Sciences representatives Nedda Sarshar and Amanda DeNardo, College of Visual and Performing Arts representative Eric Evangelista and recorder Malik Evans will also serve on the committee, Jones said in an email.

“I hope that the five of us can sit down, go through it line by line and really make sure that SA is spending our money well and that SA is spending our money in ways that truly stand for the things we say we stand for,” Porter said. 

The Budget Committee is one of several initiatives president Boris Gresely proposed during his campaign last semester. The five-member special committee on the budget will look at SA’s operating budget to make sure the organization is spending its money correctly. Two years ago SA violated its codes by using almost $4,000 from its operating budget to hold an SA formal. Gresely said this issue played a part in the decision to propose the committee.

SA is a direct representation of the students and needs to be accountable to the students they represent, Porter said. He said he thinks the committee can help ensure that SA is spending the students’ money responsibly and in line with financial codes.

“Each student pays $203 for their student activity fee and we want to make sure that money is being used in the best way possible,” Porter said.

Though the committee can make recommendations about the budget, it does not have any way to enforce its suggestions. The assembly can make any changes the committee recommends, Gresely said.

The committee is also important for transparency, Gresely said. Before, assembly members and students didn’t know how the operating budget was being spent, he said.

“What I’m doing as president is making sure that there are checks and balances in place so that way the assembly can hold me accountable and can definitely hold themselves accountable,” Gresely said.

The committee will also examine whether SA can operate on a smaller budget, Gresely said. If so, more money can go to student organizations that request funding through SA, he said.

A large part of SA’s current operating budget goes toward funding the Student Readership program, which provides free copies of The New York Times and USA Today to students. SA pays about $40,000 out of its $88,000 operating budget to fund half the program. The Division of Student Affairs funds the other half.

Gresely is currently in discussions with the Division of Academic Affairs to have them help fund the program, he said. He has proposed that SA, Student Affairs and Academic Affairs all pay for a third of the total cost of the program, he added.

Published on February 20, 2014 at 12:36 am

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta