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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2004)
Senate: Unused football tickets a 'red flag' Continued from page 1A said many students who receive in cidental fee-funded tickets for foot ball games, which are free to stu dents, do not actually use their tickets, costing the student body about $37,000 a game and more than $100,000 a year. Quiroz called the no-show problem a “huge red flag we need to look into.” “I think it is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed,” he said. “We have the power to make sure we work on that problem.” Day agreed that only 4,500 to 5,000 of more than 6,000 student tickets are routinely redeemed at games and said the ADFC is looking into the problem. But Day emphasized that the “no-show fac tor” is a complicated problem, hing ing on weather and game time changes, that requires further re search and study during the ongo ing budget process. “We didn’t really want to attack it quite yet,” he said. Senators discussed possible op tions for decreasing the money needed by the ADFC for tickets, such as reducing the number of tickets offered and charging a mini mal fee for tickets. But Day said charging students for tickets is not fair and would raise questions about how to handle the money. Day said if the 7 percent increase wasn’t approved, the Athletic Depart ment might not take it as a “good faith effort” to pay as stipulated by the contract. “They’ve been nice enough not to act out on us,” he said. “They’re kind of getting restless.” He added that the increase would translate to less than a dollar per student. “Again, we’re looking for current service level, not growth,” he said. Day said senators should take into account the actual amount of monetary increase rather than the percentage change because the ADFC has a smaller budget than the other programs. Senator Khanh Le said he support ed a 5.3 percent increase because “right now, all I’m saying is that stu dents’ money is being (wasted).” Senator Toby Hill-Meyer said tick et availability to everyone is impor tant, but priority for funding should be spread out among student groups because funding for athletics takes money away from other programs. Oregon Daily Emerald. A campus tradition-over 100 years of publication. “It makes me think, why do we have this disparity?” he asked. Programs Finance Committee The Senate also voted 12-1-2 to approve a benchmark of a 5.62 per cent increase of $275,000 for the PFC, which allocates money to stu dent groups. PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowal la said the increase was partly due to the need to bolster reserve funds, which have decreased over the past five years. Pohowalla emphasized that the PFC intends to allocate money so that it comes in under the 5.62 benchmark. ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said the increase is also necessary to accom modate a 20-cent raise in Oregon minimum wage, and because the program is expecting a two-year salary freeze for classified staff and Officers of Administration to end, the PFC budgeted a 2 percent salary increase for those employees. Yet some senators disagreed with the initial benchmark, which was also approved by the executive. Day said stipends for some student groups may be too high, proposing a 2 percent funding increase of about $97,000 to be “consistent with what’s gone on tonight.” “I don’t think $200,000 growth is needed for the program,” he said. Senator Lisa Lam agreed, saying she hoped all the budgets would be equally scrutinized despite lower ini tial benchmark projections. Pohowalla said 2 percent would not be enough to fund the 140 groups to which the committee allo cates money. Senator Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar questioned the motivation behind the 2 percent motion. “We should not make these amendments based on how we felt about the last decision,” he said. Senator Austin Shaw-Phillips said the PFC request was acceptable, saying “everything on here is pretty reasonable. ” “Decreasing the stipend model is not the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s out there,” Shaw Phillips said. EMU Board of Directors Senators voted 14-1-1 to pass an executive-approved 7 percent in crease for the EMU Board of Directors, which oversees finances for the EMU. Chairwoman Aryn Clark said because the EMU is a state auxil iary, about 82 percent of the board’s budget is mandated by programs to which it allocates money. She said increased labor costs and the need to repair the aging EMU, parts of which are 50 years old, leave only 18 percent to work with for potential cuts. Ravassipour and Representatives of the board agreed the benchmark is not a long-term solution for EMU funding problems, but some senators spoke out in favor of using some or all of the board’s $130,000 surplus to buy down this year’s budget. EMU board member Ethan Firpo said the EMU can go into debt to the state, as it has in the past. But he said it has an opportunity to get out of debt, adding that using the surplus is “not a valid paradigm.” “It’s more like suturing with a fish hook with the express purposes of pulling out that fishhook later,” he said. 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