Although organizations on campus have been losing money, Student Association recently found a savings account worth $55,000. The account, called Reserve for Replacement, was rediscovered this week when S.A. reviewed their balance sheet. This money may help replenish organizations affected by the shrinking S.A. budget.
"There wasn’t really any written record of exactly what it was supposed to be used for," said Lauren Atkinson, director of finance, but she added that S.A. is planning on using $40,000 of it to pay for a new ambulance for SAVAC.
The money that would have gone to SAVAC in the budget will then be spread around the S.A.
"We’re not really sure as to what to do with the extra money," said Ed DeLauter, senator and chairman of S.A. finance committee.
Currently, the money has been placed in the senate’s contingency account. This account is "extremely accessible to every organization on campus," he added. To access the money, organizations need a senator to write up a bill, which can then be approved or failed by the Senate.
Despite the shrinking budget line for next year, S.A. has also found ways to reinstitute nine paid positions to their staff, including allowance for the president’s summer on-campus housing.
The overall S.A. budget shrank by $23,000 from $1,535,442.75 to $1,512,223.72, yet S.A. senators were able to add $1,4950 in new salaries. The budget shrank because the money was being over allocated, not due under-spending, said President of S.A. Steven DiMarzo.
Some of the new paid positions include graphic designer, and associate director of recruitment and legislative affairs.
The graphic designer position is allowed $1,200 for the account, but will be paid hourly to rebrand S.A. with a new logo, new typeface and new marking strategies, said DiMarzo.
"We’ve had graphic designers in the past but the positions haven’t been used, so they kind of disappeared and then I brought it back," DiMarzo said.
The assistant director of media relations will be in charge of keeping media organizations such as WTOP and WNYO informed about what S.A. is doing. They are paid a $240 stipend, which is about $8 a week.
Finally, the associate director of recruitment and legislative affairs will plan involvement activities for students and S.A.
"Like if we were going to go to Albany and have some type of rally, whether it be an education bill or budget," DiMarzo said. "That person will also keep everybody informed on issues going on within the college, Oswego community, SUNY, state, things like that."
In addition to these positions, some positions have existed before but have been renamed with new titles, such as the executive secretary.
"Executive Secretary is a new name for the media receptionist," DiMarzo said. "That person is going to have more responsibilities than what the current media receptionist has."
DiMarzo justifies the addition of the new positions by explaining that they were created in order to even out the workload between the existing directors on staff.
"I felt that responsibilities of past directors have either been not enough or too much for one person to handle," DiMarzo said.
Although the S.A. budget is shrinking, they have found ways to pay for the new salaries.
"Those amendments went to finance committee," Atkinson said. "I don’t think it’s any more money than it originally was. It’s just allocated differently throughout the positions."
In addition to salaries being cut, DiMarzo has given up his salary in order to pay for housing.
"I cut out my second half of my summer stipend and put it towards housing," DiMarzo said. "Then what finance committee did was they took my first part and subtracted it from the initial amount that is going to cost to live on campus."
