The UNF Senate approved its 2011-12 budget in just 30 minutes with a 29-0-0 vote Feb. 22.
“The theme for tonight will be ‘Trust in your B&A committee,’” said B&A Chair Khiresto Salako a few hours before the vote.
Senate President Carlo Fassi echoed the sentiment just prior to the meeting.
Senators asked a few questions, but there was no contention and no one motioned to amend the budget in any way.
They were expected to seek out B&A comittee members and learn about the budget rather going through it line by line during the meeting, Salako said.
The $4 million budget, which comes from student fees, funds a number of student jobs, SG agencies like OP and Club Alliance, and student travel requests. It dictates the budget for 29 entities.
The senate also made changes to the budget’s provisonary language.
The SG Executive branch now must retain 10 percent of its operating budget for May and June. New administrations take office in May and the fiscal year doesn’t start until July. Before, newly elected executives were not guaranteed the previous administration would leave them any money to begin working.
The travel request fund, which helps pay student travel to conferences, competitions and other non-academic events saw a slight overall decrease.
In last year’s budget, the fund was $25,000 and the senate had the option to replenish $10,000 twice a year — making the fund’s actual cap $45,000 in 2010-11.
Now, the fund is set at $35,000, and the senate cannot replenish it.
Though approved by the senate, the budget must be signed by SG President Sitou Byll-Cataria, Student Affairs and President Delaney. Once it is made public, the budget will be available at unfspinnaker.com.