SGA resolution will cap funding requests

A resolution that limits the amount of money granted to Recognized Student Organizations to $650 per request was passed by the Student Government Association last Thurs.

Resolution No. 6 will allow more RSOs at Georgia College & State University to receive money allocated by the SGA Senate.

“This will hopefully enable more RSOs to be eligible for funding, especially in the spring,” said SGA President Loman Martin. “We run out of money way before all the groups have come [here] because there is no set amount. This will make the pool larger.”

Martin sponsored a similar bill that was passed last year by the University Senate, but with a spending cap of $500. David Brown, then-interim president of GC&SU, did not sign it.

SGA Senator Sandra Green proposed this year’s spending cap resolution to the Senate and said that $500 was too small an amount.

“I spoke with some of the people who wrote the resolution last year about getting a bill cap brought up in the Senate,” said Green. “They gave me a draft of the resolution from last year, and I thought, considering the larger bills of this year, that $500 was too conservative.”

According to SGA Secretary Sara Johnson, a spending cap will help to balance the allocation of money more fairly for all RSOs.

“Any RSO on campus can come and ask for money,” said Johnson. “What Sen. Green is trying to do with this resolution is open it up. This semester we’ve been giving bigger sums of money to smaller groups of people, and that’s why this came up.”

Green said there are some exceptions to the resolution.

“As it stated in the resolution, a group coming to SGA for bill allocation can be granted more than $650, but a two-thirds majority vote must be obtained from the Senate to exceed this amount,” said Green. “From there, there is no limit.”

The resolution further states that for any RSO with 12 or more members, this resolution does not apply, and there is no cap on the amount of money that can be granted.

Martin said a spending cap is necessary because of the increasing number of RSOs on campus.

“The allocation money the student government has is usually only about $2,000 to $3,000 a semester,” said Martin. “That has to encompass over a hundred RSOs, so by adding a bill cap, it says only X amount of dollars can be given at a period of time.”

The SGA Senate allocates much of this RSO money during the Spring Semester.

“Spring is conference season,” said Johnson. “We’re really trying to keep enough money so all different kinds of groups can come get money. This way, it’s not like the few groups that get here first that want the most money get all of it.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 18 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry