The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council passed its budget unanimously on July 25, approving spending for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The approved budget will see major changes to student services, including the introduction of a service centre manager and the transition of the Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students (BECAMPS) office space into a new multipurpose room on campus.
The operating budget this year is over $2.2 million, which is $200,000 more than CUSA’s gross revenue for the last fiscal year.
According to David Andrews, CUSA’s vice-president (finance), changes such as rolling out a new communications strategy across CUSA businesses and adding more custom food options like green smoothies and samosas at Rooster’s is what led to the rise in projected revenue for this fiscal year. A new deal with Coca-Cola that will see CUSA generating revenue based on Coke products sold at its businesses is also a factor.
Additionally, CUSA council cut back on funding for executives. This means they will no longer receive a cell phone allowance or the annual pay raise they are entitled to, according to Andrews. These changes, along with a cut to executives’ training pay will “give more back to students,” Andrews said.
Last year’s Clubs and Societies referendum, which resulted in the allocation of $1.75 per student per semester (totalling approximately $85,000 per year starting this fall), is also reflected in the budget.
Other notable items in the budget include a projected loss of approximately $64,300 for the CUSA-run Oliver’s Pub and Patio, which usually sees a deficit. Last fiscal year’s projected income was an estimated profit of $3,200, with an actual loss of about $120,000.
Andrews said this year CUSA hopes to restructure its events schedule at Oliver’s Pub to run roughly half the amount of loss by moving some off-campus events back to Carleton.
Andrews also said that vice-president (student life) Zameer Masjedee will be planning about a dozen events at Oliver’s Pub—which are expected to bring in roughly $11,000 to $13,000 in revenue per event— an increase from the few events held last year.
He added CUSA executives hope new food menu items and a new communications strategy will see Oliver’s losing less than usual this year.
Although the budget did pass unanimously at this month’s meeting, the reallocation of funds from BECAMPS to make way for the new multipurpose room caused some debate. Heading the debate against the changes was arts and social sciences councillor Ruth Lau-MacDonald, who suggested a strategic plan be implemented before BECAMPS’ funding was finalized.
“I’m not against a multipurpose space,” she said after the meeting. “I’m against reallocating funds or removing funding from a specific event on campus that did spend most of its budget over the last two years without having a strategic plan in place.”
Lau-MacDonald, a former part-time student and current mature student, said she agrees changes had to be made to the facility, but that she would have liked to see a proposal or consultation from the centre’s coordinators before the funding was changed.
“It wasn’t working the way that it was, I completely agree, but we have to be more careful about how we go about things,” she said.
CUSA president Fahd Alhattab said during the meeting that the BECAMPS programming wouldn’t be lost, but rather adjusted to make the centre more resourceful by scheduling programming during certain times at the CUSA-run Health and Wellness Resource Centre.
“Dedicated programming instead of dedicated space allows us to be more effective,” Alhattab said.
You can read the full CUSA budget here.
– With files from Drew May
