After losing a bike co-op and increasing some salaries, ASU Undergraduate Student Government is moving full steam ahead with this year's finalized budget.
With no home for nearly $10,000, originally set aside for the defunct Bike Co-op, the USG director of public relations and also the assistant director of government relations received pay raises of $1,735 and $710, respectively. They will now make $3,000 and $1,500 per year.
"PR is something I think is fundamentally important to ASASU because the only way we can be effective is if ASU students know we're here," said Jonathan Confer, one of two Barrett Honors College senators. "[And government relations] is a very big role and if we're asking these students to work a full time job in addition to school, [it's important] that we're offering them support."
Confer said the main budget issue was redistributing the funds normally allocated to the Bike Co-op. The co-op was an on-campus site that repaired bikes for students.
"The Bike Co-op last year lost its location and basically dissolved after that," Confer said.
Last year, demolition crews began renovating a room in Palo Verde East, where the co-op was most recently located. There are no plans to rebuild the co-op.
Nearly half of the freed-up funds went to the Government Relations and Public Relations areas in the USG, Confer said.
The money specifically went toward the raises and also to boost operations money for both departments.
The budget is proposed by the USG to the Senate, which then approves it and sends it to the administration for further approval said USG president Sophie O'Keefe-Zelman.
Once finished, the administration returns the budget to the Senate for final approval.
"[Approving the budget] was something we had to do right away," O'Keefe-Zelman said. "It's actually the exact same budget as we got last year."
While undeclared sophomore Katie Becker understands that officials must be paid, she feels the money could have been better spent.
"I think [the money] should be used for things around campus," Becker said. "Students should get the money; they pay to go here."
Justice studies junior Quinn Johnson disagrees, he said he backs the USG's decision.
"If the members of the USG felt that was the most appropriate place to appropriate the funds...it's their decision to choose where it goes," Johnson said. "They are our elected officials, they have the right to choose."
The remainder of the money went to the College Councils and the College Council Contingency Fund and Senate Contingency Fund. The College Contingency Fund is in place to allow each council to apply for more money as the need arises and as the USG deems fit. The senate contingency fund is used for funding initiatives such as the newly formed Meal Plan ADHOC committee, Confer said.
Reach the reporter at rkost@asu.edu.
