Student Government discusses budget bill and passes tier system payment bill Wednesday night
Next meeting could hold extensive debate regarding the budget
Published: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Updated: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Thomas Lamm, the chairman of the Finance Committee, discusses the Budget Act Wednesday night at the Student Senate meeting. Photo by David Mabe.
The Student Senate met on Wednesday and passed Government Bill 60, a bill which made some changes to the stipend tier system for Student Government employees, and discussed the Student Senate finance bill 59 for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The bill includes everything from projected fee collection to stipends for SG employees and appropriations allowances. It was designed by the Finance Committee and is sponsored by Senator Thomas Lamm, the chairman of the committee. The bill projects $299,244 worth of revenue and allocates every cent of that sum out.
The bill was read at the meeting and will be discussed in more detail in the Finance Committee meeting and the next Senate meeting on March 25.
"We had a finance committee meeting,” Lamm said. “Everyone was invited, including students. We took budget proposals and compared them and we compared that to this year's budget. Now we're going through the second round and student body is invited to that as well. The meeting will be on Tuesday at 6 [p.m.]."
Kelli Rogers, Student Senate pro tempore and a junior in political science, said the budget is usually highly contested.
But as the Finance Committee went over the Budget Act, he felt some stipend changes should be made.
"We structured out the original budget -- to proceed we needed to restructure the tier system," Lamm said.
The bill to restructure the system is GB60, also called the Tier System Modification Act, sponsored by Senator Lamm. It was motioned to be fast-tracked and passed with a visible majority.
The tiers are literally payment categories for how some SG officials will get paid. The system started three years ago after SG expanded rapidly, according to Student Senate President Greg Doucette. Two of the main positions that will have the amount they receive changed are the Comptroller and the SG Webmaster. Senators generally affirmed the Webmaster's extra efforts and that he deserved more compensation. In addition, although student Senators do not get paid,the Bill said which tier they would be in if they are ever going to be paid.
"Everybody within [a] tier has to get the same pay," Doucette said.
But the changes weren't really major, according to Lamm.
"We're not doing anything groundbreaking," he said.
In the end, the bill had increased the tier system from eight tiers to ten. With these changes, the budget bill will be discussed on March 25.
Deputy News Editor Samuel T.O. Branch contributed to this story.
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