SGA explains $640,000 budget

Brent Folan, the current president and former treasurer of the Student Government Association, said he planned to ensure the SGA acted with fiscal responsibility.

Although there was no set budget for the current 2012-2013 academic year, Folan said he expected the budget to be the same as last year’s budget of $640,000, which was the highest in SGA history.

The budget is comprised of an annual $90 student fee, current SGA treasurer David Belpedio said.

Folan said $384,000 of SGA’s budget, the largest portion, would go toward theCrew, which is responsible for organizing university activities.

Belpedio said 74 percent of the money devoted to theCrew was used for its large events like the fall concert and TCU’s tree-lighting ceremony. The remainder of theCrew’s budget was used for day-to-day programming and small events at the Campus Commons and the Brown-Lupton University Union, such as finger painting and free smoothies, he said.

The majority of the SGA budget was usually unaltered because each year’s spending is based off spending in prior years, Belpedio said.

However, the most uncertain portion of the SGA budget was the amount allocated to the House of Student Representatives, which Belpedio estimated to be around $50,000 for the upcoming school year. The House budget has yet to be finalized because of new proposals being introduced at different times of the year, he said.

He said the House budget was previously used to fund projects in the past, such as the installation of a water fountain at the rec center and volleyball courts.

For the upcoming year, he said funds might be designated for projects such as repairing benches around campus or possibly creating a bike repair station. Roughly $10,000 of the $50,000 House budget has already been spent on projects like these, Belpedio said.

The House of Representatives has also used its money to encourage student learning by facilitating specialized research grants (for students who request aid for a project) like the $6,000 grant for undergraduate research given to the TCU College of Science and Engineering, he said.

Belpedio said the House budget would also fund some campaign promises Folan made while running for SGA president last fall.

Folan said roughly $2,500 will be used to fulfill one of his promises: organized carpooling opportunities with the website ridaroo.com, a student carpooling website.

One of the other promises Folan made during his campaign was the transformation of the university tailgating experience. This will be partially funded through the sale of spaces for students to tailgate, rather than the majority coming from the House budget, Folan said.

Folan said his former position as treasurer provided the experience he needed to work with such a large budget.

As president, Folan said he wanted to maintain fiscal responsibility by adhering strictly to the budget and ensuring students’ money was used as efficiently as possible.