A chorus of “aye” and “nay” rang out in the student Senate chambers Wednesday, as the Student Government budget for the 2014-2015 year came up for debate.
The $163,428 budget plan was passed by a vote of 26 to one, with one senator abstaining.
The budget allocation takes the form of a series of subcategories, with each section receiving parts of the overall amount. Within each subcategory, proper sums are appropriated to every individual project overseen by SG.
The biggest piece of the budget pie, a $58,800 share, went to the Carolina Cab Safe Ride Program, a cab service that takes students from Five Points to anywhere within a five-mile radius for free.
“It’s a really safe and effective way to get our students home,” Student Body Vice President Donnie Iorio said. “This is geared as a way to keep our students safe.”
Cabs pick up students from a designated spot within Five Points and will take students home so they can get home safely. The shuttles will also run on football gamedays.
The second biggest section of the budget went to newspaper subscriptions, which gets $43,295 of the total budget.
Students are given free copies of national publications like The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, as well Columbia’s The State. These papers can be picked up across campus from the designated stands at locations ranging from the Coliseum to the Russell House to the new business school.
The papers are meant to be exclusively available to students.
“Those are for students. Those aren’t for faculty and staff,” Iorio said. “We want to make sure that students are using them. It’s something that the students are picking up. The Wall Street Journal is in the business school, and that makes sense for it to be in the business school.”
The third largest chunk of the budget comes from SG operating costs, primarily executive officer salaries and office expenses.
And according to Iorio, paper — SG printed 420 pages of paper to prepare for Wednesday’s senate meeting.
“You wouldn’t believe the amount of money we spend in paper for Senate,” Iorio said. “We spend a lot of money on paper. It’s something we are constantly looking for alternatives for.”
For these and additional managerial costs, the senate apportioned $21,520 for “Office Operations,” according to senate legislation.
Carolina Convoy, a service that provides students with transportation to Gamecock away games at other SEC schools, was allocated $3,339 for the fiscal year. An additional $6,316 was given to Freshman Council, and $1,435 was allocated to the Awards Banquet.
The prime directive of Student Government, Iorio said, is to “responsibly spend” the money distributed by the budget.
“I pay for [the budget],” he said. “Professors don’t pay for this so the people that we are reporting to are the people that elected us. They paid for this in their student activity fee and we need to be responsible in making sure that everything is benefiting the students.”