Club spending varies amidst budget request period

Pat Gareau

Editor-in-Chief

Every spring, clubs across campus ask the student senate to fund them for the following year. A total of $121,000 dollars is slated to be divided to the more than 30 active clubs at Hudson Valley in 2015-16.

“We want to see clubs use their budgets in the most efficient way that prioritizes the well being of their students,” said student senate president Grace Harrison.

Clubs are being asked to bring financial information to present to the senate at the all club meeting on Mar. 9, which will occur after this is sent to print.

In the 2014-15 year, a total of $111,460.70 was provided to clubs ranging from as little as $327 to the investment club, to as much as $46,000 to The Hudsonian.

The investment club, despite having the lowest budget, has been one of the most active clubs on campus this year and has been able to gain funding from the senate through the senate by special request.

Alex Denney, investment club treasurer, believes the club should have a budget closer to $2,000-$3,000. “I hope that every year the club has a big event,” said Denney. Last spring, the investment club organized the dodgeball tournament and in April this year they will be taking a trip to Wall Street.

Because of a senate rule that clubs can not receive more than a nine percent increase, the investment club will not be able to receive more than a $356.43 budget for next year.

“I think we should be rewarded for our incredible growth. I can’t think of many clubs that can get people as active as we can,” said Denney.

Other clubs that have had activity outpacing their funding include the niemond zonders, SADHA, tour guides, engineering science and choir clubs, who have spent a combined $7067.96 out of the $8923.75 alloted to them this year as of Feb. 19.

However, there are many clubs that have spent very little of the funding that the senate has given them this year. 13 clubs that have low spending this year have combined to use $3,944.70 out of $26,862. This includes the society of refrigeration technicians, who have spent nothing of their $5,085.60 budget as of Feb 19.

The Student Christian Association has also been a low spending club, having spent $187.16 out of their $1,350 budget. Their adviser, Jeffrey Schoonmaker, explained some of the reasons why a club may have low spending.

Some, like the SCA, have major initiatives in the spring. The SCA will be buying books to hand out around Easter, including the Bible and “The Case for Easter” by Lee Strobel.

“We’ll probably have 100 copies of that book to give away,” said Schoonmaker.

They also have an end of the year celebration with food every year, and Schoonmaker said that the club typically spends most of their budget. Many other clubs also spend a chunk of their budget on end of the year celebrations, which explains low spending to some extent.

However, the SCA has been spending less than usual this year.

“Part of our problem is a lack of advanced planning,” said Schoonmaker. A handful of students in the club went to a conference in Schenectady earlier this school year, and they did not make the purchase request out of their club budget in time, so Schoonmaker paid out of pocket.

Last year, the only club to have their budget decreased by the senate was The Hudsonian. 18 clubs received an increased budget by at least seven percent. Eight of those that received major increases are among the low spending clubs that have spent no more than 30 percent of their budget as of Feb. 19, with five of those eight spending under 20 percent and five spending under 10 percent.