Sporting a healthy budget surplus, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Treasury stands fiscally firm at the start of the academic year, Treasurer Aaron Bartel said Sunday in his State of the Treasury speech.
The TCU budget, at $1.4 million, is the largest in Senate history, thanks in part to the Senate's decision last April to eliminate ticket costs for on-campus, student-led events. The Treasury currently has a surplus of $169,599.
"The treasury is on solid financial footing," Bartel, a junior, told the Daily yesterday. "I do not see any sort of problems ... [arising] this year."
Close to half of the surplus, $87,000, will be directed to the buffer fund, which was nearly exhausted last year when it was used to fund the ticket-cost elimination. Buffer funds are used to cover the unforeseen expenses of student groups. Many thought the decision to slash buffer funding last year would adversely affect groups in need of supplementary funds.
"I urge you tonight, whatever your position may be, to not linger on the decisions of last year, but instead to accept them as unchangeable and move forward from the present," Bartel said in his speech, referencing the disagreement over last year's budget decision.
Money for the buffer fund is normally allocated when the budget is drawn up at the end of the academic year. Last year, the Senate took a different approach, allocating $890
Associate Treasurer Kate de Klerk, a sophomore, said that the wait to transfer money from the surplus into the buffer fund was "out of form."
"We wanted to [transfer the money] when the new Senate was elected because we didn't need to use it during the summer," de Klerk said.
The transfer, which occurred on Sunday, means that the amount in the buffer fund is nearly the same as it was at this time last year. According to de Klerk, the Treasury has enough money to cover the costs that student groups incur.
"We have plenty of money for what groups come to us for," she said.
While financing the buffer fund through the surplus worked out this year, Bartel does not recommend this procedure for the future.
"I would like to avoid this model because it makes the groups susceptible to swings of money," he said. "One year we may have a lot of money in surplus and some years we may have to cut programming."
For the remaining $82,599 in surplus, Bartel said that he will allocate an undecided amount to the student activities endowment, which currently has $300,000, according to Bartel. He said he will determine the exact amount at a Senate meeting three weeks from now.
"I do not wish to do so tonight, because I believe that would not provide ample time for thought and debate," he said in the address.
Bartel remains optimistic for the future and believes that this year will be fairly normal for the treasury.
"I am confident that our Treasury staff will be capable of moving the Treasury forward and continuing to strive towards becoming excellent stewards of the Student Activities Fee," he continued in the speech.
