Spring Break
Senate passes $1.7 million budget proposal, president-elect absent
Jim Sojourner
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: News
Student Government President Elect Dan Gearhart was absent Wednesday night when Associated Students of CSU Senate debated and passed his more than $1.7 million budget proposal.
Vice President-Elect Tim Hole said Gearhart was on a plane to Austria to compete in a Red Bull paper airplane competition, and Hole explained the budget, which passed unchanged 19-0-3, answering questions in Gearhart's stead.
"You couldn't pay me enough to not be here at this time (last year)," current ASCSU President Taylor Smoot said about Gearhart's absence.
Smoot said the budget proposal is a critical session because it determines the course of the next year and anyone in the Senate can suggest changes. He said he has never heard of a president-elect missing the session.
Hole defended Gearhart's absence, noting that the budget proposal was supposed to go forward in last week's Senate meeting when Gearhart planned to be available. He said Gearhart wouldn't have been able to do anything then but answer questions anyway.
"He was there for the (Student Fee Review Board); He was there for the creation of the budget," Hole said. "Dan made (his) argument in the form of the budget."
"I had it under control," he added.
The over $1.7 million budget is funded entirely by student fees and finances student programs across campus. The highest funded program next year is the Transfort bus transportation system, which will receive $520,000 from ASCSU.
Smoot said that number, an increase of over $100,000 from last years $418,000 Transfort allocation, should be finalized in the next couple weeks, but the contract signing, which was slated to be signed Wednesday, had to be pushed back to accommodate minor language clarifications.
The higher cost will be used to keep bus routes three and six running until 10:30 p.m. as opposed to the current 6 p.m. shutdown time, Smoot said, and students will be able to use their RamCards in the place of a bus pass.
Vice President-Elect Tim Hole said Gearhart was on a plane to Austria to compete in a Red Bull paper airplane competition, and Hole explained the budget, which passed unchanged 19-0-3, answering questions in Gearhart's stead.
"You couldn't pay me enough to not be here at this time (last year)," current ASCSU President Taylor Smoot said about Gearhart's absence.
Smoot said the budget proposal is a critical session because it determines the course of the next year and anyone in the Senate can suggest changes. He said he has never heard of a president-elect missing the session.
Hole defended Gearhart's absence, noting that the budget proposal was supposed to go forward in last week's Senate meeting when Gearhart planned to be available. He said Gearhart wouldn't have been able to do anything then but answer questions anyway.
"He was there for the (Student Fee Review Board); He was there for the creation of the budget," Hole said. "Dan made (his) argument in the form of the budget."
"I had it under control," he added.
The over $1.7 million budget is funded entirely by student fees and finances student programs across campus. The highest funded program next year is the Transfort bus transportation system, which will receive $520,000 from ASCSU.
Smoot said that number, an increase of over $100,000 from last years $418,000 Transfort allocation, should be finalized in the next couple weeks, but the contract signing, which was slated to be signed Wednesday, had to be pushed back to accommodate minor language clarifications.
The higher cost will be used to keep bus routes three and six running until 10:30 p.m. as opposed to the current 6 p.m. shutdown time, Smoot said, and students will be able to use their RamCards in the place of a bus pass.
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