The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) is giving residence students the chance to vote on whether to increase the association’s per-student levy.
The March 16 referendum question will allow students to vote on whether they want to increase RRRA’s levy by $10 per year, or $5 per term. The levy is currently $60 per year for full-time residence students. With approximately 3,600 students in residence, the increase will be about $36,000.
Will Verschuren, RRRA president and chief financial officer (CFO), said the increase is long overdue.
“We haven’t increased our yearly levy in 15 years, and times change,” Verschuren said. “We’ve lost certain revenue streams, we have more expenses than we used to. We had a great year for programming, and we want to continue that.”
In a press release, Verschuren said RRRA has lost revenue from places such as the refrigerators rented to students. RRRA used to collect some of the money but according to the press release, all revenue now goes to the administration.
Laura Storey, director of Housing Services, said RRRA receives no funding from housing, even as they face a budget loss.
“The revenue that they receive from Abstentions is totally separate from housing. They run their own incorporated business, they don’t receive funding from us,” Storey said.
The increase will also help RRRA break even from the loss of tobacco product sales at Abstentions. The loss is the result of an Ontario-wide ban of tobacco on post-secondary campuses, which took effect in January.
“We lost a very recent revenue stream, through cigarette sales, which decreased foot traffic in Abstentions, so we saw a decrease in sales over the board,” he said.
RRRA projected a $20,000 loss as a result of the legislation, a number higher than either Mike’s Place or Henry’s Convenience, which both sold cigarettes.
When the ban took effect Jan. 1, Carleton was one of few post-secondary campuses that still sold tobacco products.
First-year engineering student Amanda Skawinski said she was against an increase in fees, no matter how small.
“I think it’s stupid. We’re already playing enough as it is,” she said. “We shouldn’t be paying for something that people are now not going to buy on campus.”
The money from the increased levy will help continue programming, Verschuren said.
“The goal of the levy is to maintain what we were doing this year onto next year,” he said. “Even though I wouldn’t be around on the next executive, I’m just trying to make sure they are financially stable.”
If the levy does not pass, Verschuren said RRRA would have to do a hard review of its budget in order to figure out where to make cuts.
“Should the levy not pass, we’d have to take a look of at the budget . . . but programming events, there won’t be as many for sure,” he said. “That’s where we’d take the money out of, programming.”
