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During the Syracuse University Student Association’s March 18 meeting, assembly members voted to approve a significant 20% reduction to its internal operating budget.

The new budget, which will now be reviewed by SA’s Finance Board, was reduced by around $25,000 from the previous fiscal year, SA President William Treloar said. The budget decrease did not include any changes to the association’s operations.

Treloar, who drafted the altered budget, said the cuts targeted resources and services that students do not frequently utilize — such as the university’s now-defunct bus service to the Destiny USA mall. SA also reallocated funds toward its newer and more relevant initiatives, including its weekly grocery trolleys.

“By moving from the Destiny USA buses to something using the internal trolleys that SU has, you’re able to cut the cost significantly,” Treloar said. “That cuts about $20,000 out of the budget alone.”

The Destiny USA bus service offered weekly transportation to the mall using a Centro Shuttle route, according to SU’s events page. It was last offered consistently in the fall 2020 semester.

Treloar said that SA was also able to reduce travel costs to the Atlantic Coast Conference Advocacy Days and Leadership Symposium conferences, where SA is required to send delegates annually. He said the costs for these events are now covered by the ACC.

By officially adding grocery trolleys to the budget, SA Vice President Yasmin Nayrouz said the service will become a “permanent initiative” on campus. The service was first introduced in the fall 2021 semester, and the assembly has voted to re-approve funding for it every semester since.

Until this year’s budget was announced, grocery trolleys had been coming out of the advancement fund, Nayrouz said.

“We don’t want this initiative to go away after we graduate,” Nayrouz said. “(The new budget) ensures that there will be at least weekly grocery trolleys for future semesters and years, and it even opens up the conversation to a future administration if they want to expand grocery trolleys.”

Treloar said the SA budget process was approved by the assembly on Monday. The budget was submitted to the Finance Board Friday.

“My job in all of this is to draft a budget that is amenable to the organization,” Treloar said. “I aim to understand what did come out of those cabinet bills, what didn’t come out of those cabinet bills, what services we need to improve upon, where we needed a little more money (and) where we do need a little less money.”

During its March 18 meeting, Treloar also said that the new budget also includes reallocation of existing funds. He said the association plans to phase out underutilized services, such as the printers available to registered student organizations, and dedicate the funding to more modern resources.

“We were able to really cut a good amount of money out by either replacing services with something that is equally or more beneficial to students. We’re modernizing services to adapt to a more digital world,” Treloar said.

Once the Finance Board has concluded its review of the budget, SA’s assembly will vote on the changes again along with the spring advanced allocation requests from other on-campus registered student organizations. The first assembly vote is tentatively scheduled for its April 1 meeting, according to SA’s website.

Published on March 24, 2024 at 10:17 pm

Contact Claire: cksamsta@syr.edu