ASUCD officials to scrutinize budget

“The executive office creates a proposed budget and for three days senators will look at the proposed budget and vote on it,” said Don Ho, ASUCD controller. “The budget will dictate how much money will go to each unit.”

This year there is a proposed $10.9 million operating budget.

In the proposed budget, both AS Papers and the ASUCD Book Exchange are being cut due to lack of revenue.

“Book Exchange has way too much competition between the on-campus bookstore, off-campus bookstores and even just things like Amazon,” said Eli Yani, ASUCD senator. “I think the advent of the internet made it really difficult for the Book Exchange to keep a functioning and operational model.” 

The salaries of the president, controller and senators are also raised in the president’s proposed budget. If passed, they would each receive $7 per week raises. The commission chairs’ salaries also have a proposed pay raise of $3 per week.

“One thing that particularly irks me is the fact that the president, controller, senators’ and commissioner pay raises have been hiked. I think it’s really inappropriate. Generally [a proposed pay raise] is not supposed to come from the controller and the president,” Yani said.

However, ASUCD President Adam Thongsavat said these wage increases will not take affect until the next round of officials take over.

According to Ho, the budget for Entertainment Council may also be a highly discussed subject due to its recent budget issues and newly granted $100,000 reserve fund.

Yani is also concerned with the way that the proposed budget was put together. Originally, the budget actuals were not provided and there was no coversheet for each unit. 

“For me, it was disheartening that the tools I needed to make an informed decision about the budget were not provided to me as they were supposed to have been,” Yani said. 

Budget hearing season is a time for UC Davis members to voice their opinions, and Ho encourages everyone who is interested to come and share their ideas.

“Budget hearings is a time where we want members of the public to give their input because those are the people we’re serving,” he said.

Budget hearings are scheduled to begin Friday at 5 p.m. and go through Sunday night until the budget is completed. The meetings will take place in the Activities and Recreation Center ballrooms.

HANNAH STRUMWASSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Correction – May 12, 2011: It is stated that the meetings will take place in the Activities and Recreation Center ballrooms. This is incorrect. The hearings take place in the Activities and Recreation Center meeting rooms. The Aggie regrets this error.