The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate has spent all of the money in its buffer fund, the portion of its budget that is spent on unexpected costs. Groups seeking Senate funding will have to wait until the fall semester to seek financial backing.
Besides funding newly formed groups, the buffer fund is meant to cover unanticipated expenses, according to TCU Assistant Treasurer Ard Ardalan. It also goes toward providing funds for student organizations newly recognized over the course of the year.
"Say a DJ costs more than you thought it would … Or say you're [Media Advocacy Board] lab and a computer breaks, you'd have to go to the buffer fund for that," Ardalan, a freshman, said. "It helps us fund things that are needed throughout the year."
TCU Treasurer Aaron Bartel, a sophomore, said that while student groups can no longer get funding, any groups that needed funding should have obtained it by now because the Allocations Board (ALBO) in the fall funds groups' year−long expenditures.
"You can see that the spring expenditures were far less, and far fewer groups came in requesting money," Bartel said, "which makes sense, because all we really fund through the buffer fund is the next two months of school, and if groups needed money, they would probably have needed it in the beginning of the year."
Ardalan echoed this sentiment, saying that the timing was right for the buffer fund to run out. "It's really good, considering we're in budgeting season, so it's a good time to end the buffer fund."
The buffer fund this year contained about $85,000, an increase from last year, according to Bartel. Former TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka (LA '09) said that the previous year's buffer fund contained between $40,000 and $45,000.
This growth in the size of the buffer fund does not represent an overall increase in spending, but rather a shift in the way the money is spent, according to Bartel. "It reflects the way we budget," he said.
Bartel explained that the treasury factors student groups' fixed expenses into the budget, while making use of the buffer fund's flexibility to accommodate groups whose projected costs are variable and subject to change.
"For events like speakers, which we don't know how much they're going to cost, we tell groups here's some money, but come back for the rest when you know who you're bringing," he said.
Shapanka added that although the buffer fund has doubled from approximately $40,000 to $85,000, the change represented a tiny shift in the TCU's overall budget.
"The Senate budgets $1.2 million and has some money left over and throws it into the buffer fund," he told the Daily. "So the buffer fund is $85,000 versus $1.2 million. That's a tiny, tiny amount."
Besides using the buffer fund, the Senate can also fund groups through the co−sponsorship budget or the Senate surplus, which is comprised of the portion of money allocated to student organizations that goes unspent. There is $2,000 in the co−sponsorship budget, according to Bartel.
Allocations for this year's buffer fund came almost entirely from the surplus because the Senate last spring voted to spend approximately $50,000 from the buffer fund to make TCU groups' on−campus events free to attend. This nearly exhausted the buffer fund, leaving $800 in it.
The Senate's decision to cut buffer funds at the time raised questions about the sustainability of the plan. Such a move, some thought, would have adverse effects on student groups that needed funding.
The $800 left in the buffer fund was eventually supplemented by a reallocation of $84,000 from the surplus, according to Bartel.
Some members of the previous Senate expressed concerns, however, about the wisdom of budgeting out of the surplus, which generally acts as a cushion.
Bartel, however, in his State of the Treasury speech at the start of this academic year, offered his assurance about the health of the surplus and the TCU treasury's overall financial situation.
He noted that he plans to slightly decrease the money allocated to next year's buffer fund, allowing the next treasurer to decide if money from the surplus should be added to it or be spent elsewhere.
