The Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) will see major increases to several parts of its 2019-20 budget this semester thanks to the discovery of a misplaced cheque.
In a motion passed unanimously at its Jan. 20 meeting, council announced a $6,248 addition to its annual budget after president Sarah Shires came across last year’s holdback cheque in CASG’s mailroom.
“The way that CASG receives our levy is that we receive 75 per cent of it at the start of the year, with 25 per cent of it withheld because of an agreement we have with the university,” she said.
“That 25 per cent which is withheld is then issued in a cheque in April, which should then be deposited in April into our accounts. However, at the time with the last executive [council], it seems that cheque was not deposited.”
The recovery of these funds, said Shires, accounts for the missing 2018-19 surplus that forced the financial committee to make major budget cuts to CASG’s sponsorship funding last semester.
“All the numbers did look kind of funny to us, just from the get-go for the year,” she said. “That cheque was exactly the surplus we were expecting to get, but didn’t have at the start of the year.”
The new funding will be split between CASG’s academic initiative fund—used to support events hosted by campus clubs and societies—and its application-based scholarship program.
“I know the budget I presented in September disappointed a lot of people, including myself,” said Matt Gagne, vice-president (operations).
“The Student Choice Initiative hit us all really hard across campus, and I’m happy to say that with this, we’ve actually been able to recoup a lot of the damage done from that.”
Cuts to other parts of CASG’s budget—including council apparel, meeting snacks, and marketing materials—were also proposed by Gagne and passed by council. As a result, a total of approximately $1,750 of funding will be redirected toward its sponsorship programs.
Constitutional amendments
Council also passed amendments to its constitution regarding future bylaw changes presented by Carleton students.
According to its new constitution, all future bylaw changes will need to be approved by 51 per cent of voters, rather than CASG’s original mandate of a “simple majority.”
“Say you have a thousand voters, a simple majority would be 501 people, but 51 per cent is 510 people,” said Shires.
“Any undergraduate student who wanted to propose a constitutional change via referendum would need 51 per cent of the voters from that referendum in order to approve that change.”
New executive
In a unanimously approved motion, council welcomed Pierce Burch as CASG’s new vice-president (academic).
Burch will retire from his position as councillor for environmental science in order to take on the new role, which sat vacant for the majority of the school year.
Featured image from file.
