By: Barron Baszto, Stuff Writer
The Student Government Union (SGU) at Saint Leo University has gone through a lot of reforms this semester with the institution of their new constitution. One of which is the allocation process. To find out more on this subject the Vice President of Finance, Devan Jones, spoke on the topic.
The unreformed process had two classifications of allocations; the classifications were an event or conference. To allocate for an event there was a form that had to be turned in to the treasure 14 days before the event. If an allocation for a conference was needed, the paperwork was to be turned in 45 days prior to the conference. After the forms were turned in, then a meeting with the finance committee was needed. In the meeting they heard the case and decided whether the event or conference was beneficial to Saint Leo and if so, they would pay 100 percent of what was asked for.
With the new process, every organization and club has a set budget amount that the vice president of finance writes. He or she can only give clubs and organizations up to 25 percent of the budget. Then the appropriation’s board, which replaced the finance committee, approves or disapproves the amount for the budget. The money that is given is for the clubs and organizations to do whatever they want with. Keeping in mind, it has to follow Saint Leo’s and SGU’s guidelines. With the budget that is given, the clubs and organizations have to plan a program, educational, or social, to get extra funds. Once completing the extra requirements they can go to the new appropriations committee and allocate. It now takes 35 days for anything past the total budget amount to be given. This new process has been effective since Feb. 1.
To file for an allocation there is paperwork in the SGU office and either the vice president of finance or the chair of the appropriations board will sit down and help students fill out the forms. The papers are then due to the SGU office on Monday, no later than 5 p.m. Everyone is a part of the Student Government Union and pays an activity fee, in order to get access to these funds you need to be a member of a club or organization, and the money needs to benefit to the whole campus. When Devan was asked what the limit was that an organization can allocate for, he answered, “It doesn’t hurt to ask”. The appropriations board will find out what someone is asking for and why they need that amount. Then the board will base a decision off of that. As for what the funds can be allocated for, it can either be an event or conference. An event is open to the whole campus while a conference is just open to the organization itself; an example of this is a leadership retreat. This new process makes it easier to receive money rather than go to the board for every nickel and dime. With this budget, organizations will be able to spend money, with the appropriate guidelines, while the vice president of finance makes sure everything is in line before they get reimbursed.
