Would you rather receive an e-mail from Danica Patrick's racing team, or receive an e-mail from the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) about the proposal for funding an activity that only 30 students would benefit from? (Disclaimer: I am a fan of Danica Patrick Indy Racing.)
The reality is tough times are ahead, monetarily, and this economy should signal to any undergraduate senator that spending reductions are needed in this current academic year. Funds should be set aside in a special reserve, a "Rainy Day Fund."
With the potential for reductions to all budgets across campus, the Undergraduate Student Government have, nonetheless, proposed recently to fund $11,800 worth of paintballs for the 30 students on the team, and have already spent around $6,000 dollars on a leather couch, a 50-inch television and even a retention dinner every semester.
As The Daily Campus reported in October, USG ended the year with $57,000 in unallocated funds. The USG then realized their surplus actually came to $115,000, the black ink having accumulated unnoticed over the years. Some of that money was returned to the university and the Funding Board (while some was spent on BlackBerry phones for select members).
Nonetheless, despite having a surplus of funds recently, student fees for USG increased to $86 for the 2008-2009 year, and may increase in the near future. There should be a mechanism for the university and the Undergraduate Student Government to automatically transfer 5 percent of the USG budget to a "Rainy Day Fund," a budget reserve fund.
"Anyone who has ever balanced a checkbook knows that you need a long-term plan and you need to put money aside whenever you can," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in 2005.
Presently, Rell is using some of Connecticut's own reserve fund to pay for programs the state may have had to eliminate, had she not had the option of tapping into the piggy bank. Connecticut's "Rainy Day Fund" is a hedge against bad economic times, with any end-of-year surplus going directly into reserves, rather than being available for appropriations.
The 28th Amendment to the Connecticut Constitution limits growth in state spending to the greater of the five-year average increase in either Connecticut's personal income or inflation. The cap passed in November 1992, as part of the deal to institute an income tax. The idea was to ensure that legislators did not overspend during good economic times, and it was largely effective during the surplus years of the late 1990s.
The purpose of my proposed USG savings account is to allow for the possibility of reducing the Student Activity Fee for the USG in future years through banking student dollars now. This year alone, $30,000 could have been saved to help support USG next year, and to help see USG through any unexpected fiscal crunches or funding-demand spikes.
The present surplus presents a unique opportunity to improve the long-term fiscal health of the Undergraduate Student Government.
Former USG President R. Ryan McHardy said in a phone interview, "USG evaluates every year where our funding applications are and any operating expenses. This is all done with about a three-year foresight, so the FY09 increase to $86 was voted on during FY 2006, and each time we do an increase we do a student-side referendum. There is also a committee that handles the fee structure that holds hearings each year. It is likely this year we will request a fee increase for [the fiscal year of 2012]."
Unlike the State of Connecticut, the Undergraduate Student Government currently has no way of protecting itself from recessions. Just remember, budgets are always tight, even in good years. It is rare for anything to change overnight, but USG could provide this change with one enactment of legislation.
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