Missouri Students Association Vice President Zach Beattie is preparing the MSA 2014 fiscal year budget — one that will be a little larger than those prior.
The Student Fee Review Committee granted MSA a 2.04 percent increase — 45 cents per student — in funding from student fees, resulting in a nearly $70,000 increase in funding for the 2014 fiscal year.
Part of this money is coming from an increase in Graduate Professional Council funding from student fees, which transfers half of its student fees to MSA automatically.
The $70,000 is what was granted out of a $165,000 request made by former MSA Vice President Helena Kooi to the Student Fee Review Committee last semester.
The committee granted nearly half the request under the assumption that $39,000 will fund the salary of the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center coordinator, which was previously funded by a grant that will expire this summer, SFRC head Alysha O’Neil said in an email to Beattie.
Kooi’s original SFRC request also included $8,000 for Tiger Pantry’s operating budget. The committee was uncomfortable providing the entire $8,000 requested, O’Neil said in an email, but Beattie said Tiger Pantry will receive a portion of the $70,000.
Another funding priority is making MUTV and KCOU’s student media coordinator a full-time position, Beattie said.
Part of Kooi’s original SFRC request also included $78,000 for the Department of Student Activities.
The committee understood the need for increasing the department’s funding, but the committee identified a greater need to increase funding to the Counseling Center, according to the email.
The official number for the 2014 fiscal year budget will be finalized once Beattie gets the reported 2013 fiscal year’s carryover. This, in addition to the student fee income, will become the total 2014 budget.
“Essentially, I get a giant pie of how much money we have … and I then I get to divvy it up however we deem fit,” Beattie said.
Beattie said he will have a better idea of where all the money will go when he receives the budget requests from the various MSA departments.
“It is an ongoing process,” Beattie said. “There’s nothing special that we’re doing — nothing special we’re going to cut or add to things right now. We’re just kind of learning about everything at this point.”
Beattie said the Budget Committee will take a very active role in divvying the budget this year.
Budget Chair Mckenzie Morris said Beattie will keep the committee apprised of the budget’s progress in meetings.
“Zach (Beattie) creates the budget,” Morris said. “He is basically there (in meetings) to bounce any ideas off us, if there are any concerns he had, or if he needs input.”
The Budget Committee will also help explain the budget to full Senate for approval in late March and early April, Morris said.
Beattie said he wants to continue Kooi’s work of making the Budget Committee a resource in developing the budget.
“The Budget Committee is just as important as I am in the entire process because I don’t want to make any critical decisions or movements in money without consulting with everyone on the committee,” Beattie said.
