The UF Student Senate approved the first reading of the activity and service fee budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year on Tuesday.
The budget — which is comprised of the activity and service fees portion for the Reitz Union and the entirety of the Student Government, Rec Sports, and Student Activity and Involvement budgets — totals $20,038,152, almost $1.7 million more than the 2014-2015 budget.
Prior to being brought to the Senate floor, the budget was drawn up by the nine-member Budget & Appropriations committee, which is led by chairman Smith Meyers (Swamp, District A).
Student Body Treasurer Nicholas Carre then met with the committee and made suggestions in order to reallocate some of the funding.
The committee approved his recommendations unanimously, Meyers said.
Two highlights that have been added into this year’s budget that were not present in last year’s budget are $40,000 for the New York Times readership program and $55,000 for Student Government projects, which was created to reflect projects being pursued by the SG executive officers.
The budget passed its first reading by a vote of 76-7, with members from both Swamp and Access party showing a general sense of support.
“I see this budget as a step in the right direction,” said Preston Jones (Access, Hume), adding that he commended Carre for taking the time to look through everything and find places in the budget to cut funding where it wasn’t needed.
Majority party leader Charlie Brown Jr. (Swamp, Agriculture) considered the budget to be the first piece of bipartisan work in the chambers since the rise of the Access party.
“Any questions that we had, they were answered,” Brown said.
“Any disagreements that we met, the gap was bridged.”
Minority party leader Michael Christ (Access, Graduate) agreed the budget is the most fiscally responsible of the budgets he’s seen during his time as a senator but added he could not support the approval of such a vast budget, especially when the money for it comes from student fees.
He said his lack of support for the bill stems from personal, not political, reasoning.
“I’ve opposed budgets in the past since I’ve been in Student Government, and for me it doesn’t change once my party may or may not be in power,” Christ said.
Carre said he knows the budget is not perfect, but he said it’s a start.
“Yes, there are things I would like to change on this budget,” Carre said, “but I feel moving forward, this is the best thing we can do at this specific point in time.”
What else happened at Senate on Tuesday?
Four Summer C replacement Senator seat recommendations (Two Graduate, one Agriculture, one Graham) were approved by unanimous consent.
Student Senate Bill 2015-1033 Funding for Fine Arts College Council Equipment was passed by unanimous consent.
