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Students might pay more for rec center
The ASUO Senate voted unanimously to transfer funding of the rec center budget away from the PFC
by Jobetta Hedelman | Freelance Editor
After weeks of debate over a bill that would take oversight of the Student Recreation Center budget out of the hands of the Programs Finance Committee, the Senate held a rare dead week meeting and voted unanimously to pass the bill.
Senate Bill 28 would transfer funding of the rec center budget (which will be merged with the Rec Sports budget) away from the student incidental fee.
This bill is entirely separate from the ballot initiative rec center representatives have been considering for the spring election.
Physical Activity and Recreational Sports Director Dennis Munroe said now that the Senate has passed the bill, rec center representatives do not know how the bill would work in conjunction with a ballot initiative planned for the ASUO elections, or if they will even submit the initiative at all.
Rather than the incidental fee, funding would instead come from an increase to the existing recreation center fee and the budget would be overseen not by the PFC but by the Student Recreation Center Advisory Board. Currently, each student pays $15.25 per term to pay off the bond debt from building the rec center. Students pay an additional $21.50 per term -the combined cost of the rec center and rec sports fees. The PFC allocated $23.64 per student per term for the combined budgets in the 2007-08 academic year.
Munroe said it is important to remember that this amount is not enough to keep the rec center out of the red.
Munroe said it would cost $28.03 per student per term to balance the combined budgets. No matter how the oversight of the budget works, without additional funding, the rec center will still need to continue dipping into rapidly depleting emergency reserves or look at other ways to cut costs.
"If we had to go into those reserves a bit more, we would work hard with our student advisory board and have them help us (and) advise us as to whether we continue to use those, or if we save it and cut services," he said. "That's going to be a hard decision."
Senate Bill 28 would transfer funding of the rec center budget (which will be merged with the Rec Sports budget) away from the student incidental fee.
This bill is entirely separate from the ballot initiative rec center representatives have been considering for the spring election.
Physical Activity and Recreational Sports Director Dennis Munroe said now that the Senate has passed the bill, rec center representatives do not know how the bill would work in conjunction with a ballot initiative planned for the ASUO elections, or if they will even submit the initiative at all.
Rather than the incidental fee, funding would instead come from an increase to the existing recreation center fee and the budget would be overseen not by the PFC but by the Student Recreation Center Advisory Board. Currently, each student pays $15.25 per term to pay off the bond debt from building the rec center. Students pay an additional $21.50 per term -the combined cost of the rec center and rec sports fees. The PFC allocated $23.64 per student per term for the combined budgets in the 2007-08 academic year.
Munroe said it is important to remember that this amount is not enough to keep the rec center out of the red.
Munroe said it would cost $28.03 per student per term to balance the combined budgets. No matter how the oversight of the budget works, without additional funding, the rec center will still need to continue dipping into rapidly depleting emergency reserves or look at other ways to cut costs.
"If we had to go into those reserves a bit more, we would work hard with our student advisory board and have them help us (and) advise us as to whether we continue to use those, or if we save it and cut services," he said. "That's going to be a hard decision."
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