SUFAC Meeting
October 12th, 2009.
Meeting called to order at 5: 27pm
Members Present: Nick Herro, Ryan Shervey, Laura Lauderdale, Lindsey Polzin, Brock
Bennett, Jeffery Bryan, Carly Cappozzo, Kristen Arends, Cheryl
Roland, and Dr. Nicklaus.
Ex-Officio: Karly Wallace, Erik Kahl, Dr. Larry Ringgenberg.
Excused: Eric Schmidt
I. Agenda for 10/12/09.
a. Approval of last week’s minutes
b. New members –freshmen senators Brock Bennett and David Wermedal.
II. Ending Balance Policy –not yet approved by senate
a. Positive balances will be transferred back to SUFAC, less 5% of the surplus
will remain it the account. The money transferred from surplus accounts must
be allocated to the segregated fee charge for the following year
b. Negative accounts will inherit the balance in their current years program
budget. If the balance exceeds 10% of their allocated budget, they will not be
eligible for a segregated fee support increase for two years.
c. Exceptions: will have Ending Balance Assessment Appeals Forms.
The SUFAC committee must approve this by a 2/3 vote.
This policy may be superseded by an agreement of the SUFAC committee for
any individual account (Theatre club). Agreements may stand no longer than 4
years and may be renewed by a majority vote of the committee.
d. Motion: to move to change the budget increase non-eligibility from 2 years to
non-eligibility for the following budget cycle (Cappozzo /Lauderdale)
i. Discussion: in two years when new leadership takes over, they
shouldn’t be punished for the previous committee’s overspending.
ii. Call to question: motion passes
III. Motion to amend policy: programs whose negative balances that exceed 10% of their
allocated budget or $1000.00, whichever is lower, will not be eligible for a segregated
fee support increase for the following budget cycle. (Nicklaus/ Shervey)
a. Motion carries
IV. Should policy be enacted this year or next?
a. We need to get a policy done before we accept budgets for next year.
The groups will be notified of our policy and will be allowed to give their
feedback at the next meeting.
b. Alarming Examples
i. Art exhibition wanted $739.00 for student help. They spent $2,643.00 on
student help.
c. Discussion on what groups should be allowed to keep:
i. SUFAC…$40.00
ii. International students program…$448.00
iii. Student leadership program …$26.00
iv. Grad student org...$674.00
v. Organization grant...$1,869.00
vi. The remainders would come back
d. Motion to approve adjusted balances. (Herro/ Cappozzo)
i. Suspended for bob
V. Bob Hetzel
a. $100,000.00 last year in carry-over.
b. Wisconsin had a 5 million dollar deficit last year. We as an institution had to
remove 3 million dollars from our budget.
i. At UW-L we are not sure how were going to handle carry forward.
ii. Sometimes line item budgeting is done, based on individual groups
needs.
c. Everyone around the country has scarce resources, and are trying to figure out
the best way to balance these times.
d. How are the units spending their money? What are they using it for? What’s
the difference between operating a budget and maintaining a budget?
i. Most groups don’t need to save money for large projects, unlike
residence life.
ii. The distinguished lecture organization may need to carry money over
from year to year, so that they can bring in a bigger speaker every other
year.
e. A lot of people were concerned that if we allowed everyone to keep their
carryovers, then the money is not being used for the best reason.
i. The student are paying for these fees, and should see their money put to
use for them.
ii. The goal is to make sure that the money is being spent as intended.
VI. Memo to subcommittees and orgs about 4 % travel reductions
a. Should we adopt a smarter travel policy?
i. The goal is to reduce travel spending by 4%
ii. UW-L‘s travel expensive have grown by $800,000 over the last few
years.
b. Motion to approve SUFAC taking back carryovers over 7.5%, just for the
current year. 2009 carryover review. (Cappozzo/ Shervey)
i. Totaling of $36,457.40
ii. Discussion
iii. Question has been called: motion passes
c. SUFAC decides to contact groups and subcommittees about reducing travel
expenses by 4%.
VII. Position on funding travel through One-Shots
a. Consensus is to not fund One-Shot requests for travel.
b. Discussion on account audits
i. Should we audit anyone who has a negative cash balance?
ii. Staring with the more outstanding balances.
c. Graduate student organization
i. Is the funding of grad students only considered exclusionary?
ii. We currently fund this organization to travel to conferences and to aid
with professional development.
VIII. Meeting adjourned at 7:54pm