The Associated Students of Madison Coordinating Council finalized a draft of its 2015 internal budget Wednesday.
The budget is funded by student segregated fees and pays for costs such as grants to registered student organizations and salaries for ASM chairs and staff.
Discussion of the internal budget was held in preparation for presentation to Student Council next week.
The main topic of debate was the proposed addition of the “green fund.”
The fund, which was introduced by the Sustainability Committee, would make a portion of student segregated fees available to students as grants to start environmental initiatives on campus.
The projected budget has $80,000 allotted for the fund.
Student Council representative Maria Giannopoulos opposed the budget addition, saying the amount would be too high for a brand new project.
“How much can students really handle when we’re already paying for sustainability through our tuition?” Giannopoulos asked. “I do think that the green fund is a good idea but we also have to be mindful that this is student money.”
ASM Sustainability Committee Chair Will Mulhern, who originally presented the idea of the “green fund,” defended the project.
In response to a proposed decrease in the fund’s budget to $40,000 or $50,000, Mulhern said that there would not be enough money to make a change.
“With the $80,000, that gives students a lot more power and a lot more money to actually really do something on campus,” Mulhern said.
The budget for the “green fund” was left at $80,000.
The budget for Varsity Day was also discussed at the meeting and was ultimately eliminated. Varsity Day was created to provide commencement speakers and graduation events to University of Wisconsin-Madison students.
Chief Justice Nick Checker said the $60,000 previously held in the budget for the day should not be coming from student funds, but rather other entities on campus.
Additional changes to the internal budget include an added position of a Finance Committee Secretary and various increases in staff stipends due to state mandate.
After approval from Student Council, the internal budget will pass on to the Student Service Finance Committee.
