The Student Self-Assessed Fees Oversight Committee met for the second time Monday afternoon. The goal of the committee is to make sure each organization is using its self-assessed fee for the right purpose. Each organization has to state its mission purpose and present a budget. The organizations being assessed are the Student Government Association, the Student Programming Association, Peer Assistance, Cheerleaders, KNSU, The Nicholls Worth and the Mosaic.
James Irwin of SPA was elected chairman of the committee at the first meeting.
In addition to being chairman, James Irwin serves for the SPA, Kris Curole for Peer Assistance, Brent Callais represents the SGA, Christian Joseph for Cheerleaders, Rafael Llanos for KNSU, Marie Ory for The Nicholls Worth and Brooke Champagne for the Mosaic.
Curole and Joseph could not attend the meeting Monday and will present their budgets at a third meeting Wednesday.
The Nicholls Worth presented its budget of 2001 with an assessment of $36,234 from self-assessed fees, which go to operating expenses, and student salaries that total $30,000. The cost for printing the newspaper is $45,000, which totals $75,000 a year, leaving a defecit of $38,000.
At the meeting, Nicole L. Boudreaux, adviser for The Nicholls Worth, said there is not enough money in the self-assessed fee account to cover printing, so money has to be transferred from advertising to cover other operating expenses.
Irwin had questions about how The Nicholls Worth used advertising, and proposed that the paper estimate the income on each paper.
“[The] Nicholls Worth was created by a self-assessment fee. That’s my belief. So any money taken in by The Nicholls Worth or an entity within The Nicholls Worth should be placed inside a budget with The Nicholls Worth.
“Now, you truly assess exactly how much your going to have inside a budget, but from what I’ve read it says the percentage of the newspaper is 45 percent to 50 percent advertising. It would be a recommendation for future times that you could possibly get a projected income per paper,” Irwin said.
Boudreaux said that projecting such an estimate would be too rough considering the factors involved.
“It would be a very rough estimate, and it depends on a lot of different things,” Boudreaux.
“The amount you make on 45 percent compared to the amount you made on 50 percent could be a substantial difference depending on the size of the newspaper. It’s complicated. You would have to sit down and see the whole process from start to finish to understand.
“If I did put together that kind of budget, you would have to understand it would be extremely rough. There would be nothing we could hold ourselves to. We won’t know until the papers come out week by week where we stand as far as that budget is concerned,” Boudreaux said.
Irwin said his recommendation was the The Nicholls Worth prepare a budget.
“That’s what I would like to see,” he said. “So, if it’s like you say, the advertising pays for part of The Nicholls Worth itself. So, therefore, it’s working for itself,” Irwin said.
Boudreaux and Ory said the recommendation would be considered for next semester.
Champagne presented the total for the Mosaic at $2,250, with flat rate for printing at $1,625, and $600 for the editor positions held in fall and spring.
The self-assessed fee for the Mosaic has been 20 cents per semester and has never been raised.
Llanos presented KNSU’s budget at $38,574.
He said it is important for KNSU to maintain at least a $30,000 budget in case of emergencies, such as the two times the station has been struck by lightning in the past year.
Llanos said he wants to use about $10,000 on additional equipment, technology and engineering.
“Sure, the technology is expensive, but it’s the radio business, and if the technology’s not there, then we’re not there,” Llanos said.
All additional budgets, voting and other decisions will be addressed at the final meeting on Wedensday.
