Last night’s Student Association finance committee meeting considered possible changes in several student organization budgets.

The Campus Activities Board proposed an additional $117,684.63 to be added to its budget, a 25.2 percent increase. Voicing concerns about CAB’s fade from dominance as an organization among students, CAB president Mike Brady said the additional money will help CAB get where it wants to be and abide by its mission statement.

“I think they are doing what they believe is in the best interest of their organization,” said SA senate speaker Kevin Miller. “However, I cannot personally support an allocation that would drastically raise student fees or cut other organizations’ budgets, or both.”

SA senator Jeff Meyer said CAB will have to deal with what it is given. He added that CAB will either have to narrow its focus without the extra money, or pick up the slack of other organizations that will receive less funding if it does get the money.

Brady said while a 6-percent increase over the last five years would not have put CAB in the position it is in now, the money that is being requested is necessary for CAB to provide adequate services to students.

“It’s a very serious issue because it concerns a lot of money, but CAB’s focus and the future of the organization really depends on the money we request this year,” Brady said.

The senate decided to table CAB’s request until the committee’s next meeting.

In other business, James Barr, the assistant to the associate vice president for capital planning and space management, cited that expenditures for money allocated from student fees has increased 30 percent.

The only problem with an increase in organizations’ needs for more money is that there is not enough money generated through the activity fees to deal with the increase, causing a fiscal constraint.

The SA is allocated only $1.2 million yearly to distribute to campus organizations.

The Office of Campus Recreation cited a recent loss, but director John Sweeney and the committee could not agree on the dollar figure. Sweeney said the OCR is in debt by about $46,000, while the committee said the figure was more around $41,000. Sweeney said the major cause for the OCR’s deficit dates back to the increase of minimum wage pay several years ago.

“It’s maxed out what it’s expected to bring in,” Sweeney said. “[There were] no extra dollars to compensate for minimum wage.”

Sweeney noted that work might be necessary within this year’s OCR budget to help damage-control of the loss incurred. The OCR proposed a budget increase of $25-30,000. Approved by the finance committee and upon approval by the SA Senate, the OCR will be allocated $5,000 as supplemental funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

The Residence Hall Association proposed further funding to help accommodate the 6,000 residents currently living in the residence halls. RHA cited increased funding to help further the residents’ experience, work to help represent the residents and to increase hall improvements.

After receiving nearly $100,000 this year from Student Housing and Dining, the SA decided to allocate $18,718 for the next fiscal year, an increase of $36 from last year.