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Volume 106, Issue 79
Students’ council unveils 2013–14 budget Alex Carmona News Editor Tony Ayala is used to working outside the spotlight. As vice-president finance for the University Students’ Council, he probably has the most arcane position in student government. His position isn’t sexy, nor is it particularly easy to understand. But as the executive member responsible for looking out for the organization’s $12 million budget, his position is extraordinarily important. Last week the USC released the budget for the 2013–14 fiscal year. Throughout, Ayala continued his work to streamline and stabilize USC services that, while crucial to the student experience at Western, are almost invisible from the consciousness of the general student population. “We want to up the service levels from our operations that students don’t even know that they use,” Ayala said. “That’s things like the health plan, dental plan, Western Connections, room reservations and our productions department. They’re not the most flashy departments, but they’re things that students and clubs use on an every day basis that they don’t even realize they’re using. They don’t realize that things like setting up tables and chairs for events in the Mustang Lounge and the atrium [requires a service behind it]. To us, that was the most important thing we wanted to flow through this budget because it’s the services students use that they need most on a day-to-day basis.” Ayala predicted the USC would finish off the year roughly $50,000 in the black—over three times the net positive for 2012–13 forecasted by last year’s vice-president finance, Jennifer Valadao. Main campus students will see an increase of $22.69 to their student fee, which includes a $2 base fee increase tied to the previously mentioned service stabilization. The increase will be slightly lower for affiliate students, at $20.62.
This year’s budget also addresses an unexpected $450,000 loss incurred by last year’s affiliate agreement. Under the new agreement, passed by last year’s council under former President Andrew Forgione, affiliate students only pay 35 per cent of the roughly $200 USC fee, which was determined to mainly benefit main campus students. “It might not be public knowledge, but the affiliate agreement actually hit the USC with a $450,000 loss. This is pretty large—it’s about 10 per cent of our operating budget. We’ve had to do certain rescaling and cuts through other areas of the budget to accommodate that. That’s why you’ll see a service stabilization fund in this year’s budget. It’s a $200,000 plug—that’s probably the best way to say it,” Ayala explained. “Basically instead of us cutting $450,000, we hold $200,000 [to help make up for the loss] until we can find more efficiencies in some of our operations. So our operations have been given mandates saying they have to start saving money, which takes time—you can’t arbitrarily start cutting costs. So we set realistic goals for all the operations cost-wise and, at the same time, new mandates have been given out to try to find efficiencies because we have to find savings to accommodate the $450,000 dollar loss.” The 2013–14 budget also formally does away with both InPrint and Purple Door Promotions. They will now be combined into the new Creative Services department, expected to fulfill the roles of both its predecessors. It will, h owe ve r, function very differently. “There’s a
big self-serve component to it, as well as an entire intern development unit. Basically, we’re changing the business model—it’s very different compared to the other operations we’re running,” Ayala said. The new department is only expected to take in 60 per cent of the revenue compared to both InPrint and Purple Door, and is projected to cost next year’s USC roughly $196,000. “We’re conservatively estimating the revenues it’s going to get, just because it’s brand new and we’ll probably be tweaking it a lot in the first year. We term it a hot spot— something that should always be watched every month, to be looked at right away when the monthly reports come in next y e a r,” Ayala
noted. Food and Beverage continued its success story this year, taking in a $150,000 profit. The Wave and Spoke are doing so well, in fact, they have implemented a total price freeze. So, thankfully, a medium coffee at the Spoke will still cost a toonie flat. Food and Beverage will now focus on increasing the volume of sales while retaining its profitability. “Prices a r e n’t
even going up with inflation. There is a shift in the mandate to more monthly promotions and increased sales volume. We want to keep making money, but spread that cost over more students so that, on average, each student is paying less.”
Main campus student fee breakdown, 2013–14
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