The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) passed their 2019-20 budget after more than three months of delays on Wednesday evening, less than six weeks before the school year ends and with experts saying the organization could lose its funding from Carleton University.
RRRA also issued the writ of election, scheduling the elections for RRRA’s three executives on March 27. In setting the campaigning period as March 23 to 25, RRRA broke an organizational policy that campaign periods must be between five to seven days long.
The budget, just under $1 million, cut programming and office renovations, totalling $16,850, because of the Student Choice Initiative (SCI), according to RRRA officials.
“I know this has been a challenge for quite some time, just getting this passed,” said RRRA president Douglas Cochrane before the budget vote. “I would obviously like to apologize on my behalf. I know you wish this could be done sooner, but we’re happy that we’re able to do this now.”
With the budget running a surplus of roughly $4,500, Cochrane said he’d like to bring back the RRRA scholarship fund.
The election for 2020-21 executives will begin with all-candidates meetings at 6:00 p.m. on March 15 and 16 at the RRRA office. The nomination period is set for March 18 and 19, followed by the three days of campaigning.
Any undergraduate residence student in good standing can run. The writ of election states that candidates must run as part of a slate.
Last year, the RRRA election began on March 11.
At the meeting, RRRA also amended their constitution to allow all undergraduate residence students to vote in RRRA elections, after amending their constitution on Dec. 1 to bar students who opted out of RRRA fees from voting.
Cochrane said the budget was initially delayed because of an ongoing financial audit, which experts say would not have precluded having a budget and the SCI.
According to organizational bylaws, the budget must be presented by the second council meeting of the year, which RRRA held on Dec. 8. RRRA also violated other bylaws with the late formation of committees.
Experts say RRRA could lose its funding because of its bylaw violations. Carleton University said in a statement it is working with RRRA to resolve its issues.
Programming from last year—including a boat cruise, tailgater and campus kickoff event—was cut to make up for the money lost from the SCI. RRRA also cut $800 from sports, $3,000 from the Residence Talent Show–as Fenn Lounge hosted it for free this year–$5,000 from other programming and office renovations—deemed unnecessary after repainting the office last year—by $2,500.
The $83,000 allocated towards executive expenses—covering meal costs, salaries, tuition credits and housing—remains unchanged from last year’s budget.
Featured image from file.
