The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) passed a motion to approve the 2015-16 operating budget July 27, revealing re-allocation of student life programming funds, a new communications office, and changes to executive honoraria and benefits.
The new budget, passed at a CUSA meeting Monday, allows for $9,782 in transition pay, which pays for outgoing CUSA executives to train their incoming replacements.
The budget passed with 17 council members in favour and five against, with nine abstentions.
Most student service centres have seen increases in their project budgets, reflecting a desire by CUSA to give more money to service centres.
To compensate for this change, CUSA executive “special projects” lines have been cut.
The budget also created the student initiatives fund, a council-operated fund which students and clubs can apply to for additional money for academic and social projects that would have previously come from executive budgets.
“At the end of the day, the money is still there. It is just being placed in more strategic ways,” Alhattab said.
He added the initiatives fund will add transparency to the projects process because students have to submit their application to council.
“If you’re a club looking for money for a specific project, you can apply,” Alhattab said. “You tell us what you want and we have a committee by council that reviews all requests and they get to determine where the money goes.”
“We are a tight budget this year. The numbers are tight, they are tough, we have had to make some cuts here and there . . . The unfortunate answer and priority for us was to keep our service centres healthy. We had to cut from student life programming,” CUSA president Fahd Alhattab said.
In an announcement posted to the Rideau River Residence Association’s (RRRA) website, president Graham Pedregosa said RRRA voted against the budget because it prioritized executive pay.
“CUSA Execs made their priorities clear when they gave themselves raises instead of properly funding Clubs & Societies,” the statement reads.
Adam Carroll, CUSA arts and social sciences councillor, said he voted against the budget because he believes it reflects “unfair” spending.
“If these executives wanted to be fair to students they could cut their salaries, cut the executive transition pay, and they would make sure students know they are following through on their promises,” Carroll said.
At the budget meeting, Carroll introduced a motion to cut transition pay and add to the clubs and societies fund, which was voted down by council.
Vice-president (finance) Craig Handy said this was because the transition pay has already been spent, and the budget simply reflects that.
While CUSA executive pay saw an annual raise in accordance with the Consumer Price Index, as did the pay of other CUSA employees, their previous monthly cell phone allowance of $100 was lowered. In an email, Alhattab said “this year’s executive opted to decrease this amount by six thousand-six hundred dollars ($6600.00) to reinvest those funds into programming, service centres and clubs and societies.”
Another major change in the budget is the creation of the CUSA communications office.
The office will be responsible for CUSA’s social media and outreach, with the hope that better outreach will result in more student engagement.
The communications office will also include the new yearbook, a CUSA project slated to bring in a $15,000 net revenue.
Other notable changes include a loss at Henry’s, the campus convenience store. The loss is a result of a law introduced in Ontario last winter which banned the sale of tobacco on university and college campuses.
CUSA predicted $265,000 in tobacco sales at Henry’s and Oliver’s for the 2014-15 year, a number the new law has changed to zero.
Rooster’s is set to become more profitable this year, as CUSA bought another smoothie machine. The last machine covered its costs within the school year. Alhattab said they are expecting a similar result this year.
With food sales budgeted to increase by one-fifth from last year, the association has budgeted over $30,000 in revenue from the student coffee shop, close to the same amount that it was in deficit last year.
Haven Books is consistently CUSA’s most profitable business, slated to generate over $200,000 in revenue this year. According to the budget, Haven Books will be tested for a new delivery system, allowing students to purchase their books online.
CUSA is counting on receiving the $90,000 levy from GSA for the upcoming year.
Alhattab said they hope to move past their lawsuit with the GSA and regain the owed fees.
“It’s been three years . . . We’re at a point where it has been withheld for too long, that we are allowed to now be more aggressive with it,” Alhattab said. “It is not so much about the fees owed—it’s about going forward.”
He added that although it is a last resort, CUSA is willing to bring the GSA to court.
Michael Bueckert, GSA president, said he is unsure how CUSA decided on the $90,000 number for the GSA levy.
“I have no idea what they are basing that number on. As far as I am aware, there has been no movement on the lawsuit underway,” he said. “The GSA did have a referendum last year to administer that money itself, and there has been no reason to suggest otherwise.”
