Ohio University's Budget Planning Council accepted a student-created plan for distributing general fee money in March, after going against student recommendations last year.
The eight-student General Fee Advisory Committee, which was formed last year, presented three budget scenarios to the council at its March 4 meeting. The scenarios represented 1.15, 3 and 5 percent reductions of general fee money. Budget Planning Council voted to accept the 1.15 percent reallocation scenario.
I was ecstatic
said Chris Diehl, committee co-chair and Student Senate commissioner. It shows we've come quite a long way in two years.
Approximately $100,000 from the 1.15 percent cut will go toward a Leadership Development Program, according to the general fee report to Budget Planning Council. The remainder, about $82,000, will pay for the hiring of an assistant to the vice president of Student Affairs.
For the second year in a row, the committee's recommendations included cuts to the athletics department budget. Last year, the committee suggested a reduction of more than $500,000; Budget Planning Council instead decided to increase the budget by about $600,000.
Under this year's 1.15 percent reduction scenario, the athletics department will lose $81,205. With the highest reduction scenario, the athletics department stands to lose about $353,132.
The department's deficit ' aggravated by deliberately excluding about $700,000 in expenses on its most recent budget ' presented a challenge to both the fee committee and Budget Planning Council. Dominic Barbato, a member of both groups, said the committee felt it had to take money from athletics to prevent having to completely gut other programs.
There were some legitimate concerns about the athletics budget Barbato said. We still have no idea how we're going to balance that budget.
The council will look at the 3 and 5 percent reduction scenarios if they are needed. Rebecca Skillings, director of Budget Planning and Analysis, said the council is currently looking at a budget that does not require any reductions.
A shortage in general fees could be caused by a drop in enrollment or loss of general fund money from the state, Diehl said.
OU President Roderick McDavis and the Board of Trustees must still approve the general fee plan.
Barbato called the council's acceptance of the reallocation scenario a good sign although he said the 3 and 5 percent cut scenarios were the more important parts of the committee's recommendations.
I'm anxious to see what happens if we have to go to a cut scenario
Barbato said.
Student Senate, Baker University Center and The Post will all receive cuts of about 2.3 percent, the largest percentage reductions, under the 1.15 percent scenario. According to the committee's report, the cuts to the senate would be an attempt to lead by example.
Diehl said he thought the committee had more success this year because of last year's experience. He said committee members knew more about what the Budget Planning Council was looking for and was able to get better information from the units receiving money on how cuts would affect them.
We had a better understanding of how to build the application and get the information we needed
Diehl said.Skillings also said the committee's work had improved this year.
Enhanced interaction and communication (between Budget Planning Council and the General Fee Committee) helped to support a better process
she said.
Skillings said that while it may not look like the Budget Planning Council followed the students' suggestions, a number of the recommendations, such as Arts for Ohio, were funded through different means.
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