The Student Government Association has approved a $355,730 operating budget for 2022.

This year’s budget is about 33% lower than last year’s, but the SGA only spent about 70% of last year’s budget.

The SGA allocated funds to 21 subsidiaries and causes, including the executive general fund and the Financial Affairs Committee. 

The budget from the previous year is used as a mold. Vice President of Financial Affairs Sullivan Irvine broke down the process.

“Student Life Services gave us these digits, and then we lined them up with the template from last year, made sure everything looks good, and then pitched it to the Senate,” he said.

The deadline for submitting the annual budget is early October, but the Division of Student Life’s calculations for the budget were late this year. 

“This year’s operating budget has been carefully reviewed by members of the SGA in consultation with UA professional staff and Division of Student Life accountants to ensure efficient and balanced operations,” SGA Press Secretary Olivia Davis said in a statement.

The Financial Affairs Committee, which handles student organization funding requests, will receive $200,000 for student organization reimbursements and $1,000 for expenses. 

The executive general fund, a resource that SGA executives use to purchase supplies and other resources to fulfill their duties, will be $27,380 this year compared to $16,405 last year. 

The most significant difference this year is the increase in funds for the executive vice president. The new budget allocates $4,000, up from $3,000 in 2019, to the executive vice president for programming. 

Irvine said the SGA concluded that some funds were not being used efficiently, and their solution was to divide those funds among the six vice presidents.

The budget also funds programs and events sponsored by the SGA, like homecoming. Any remaining funds will be put towards next year’s budget.

The SGA operating budget for 2022:

Questions? Email the News desk at [email protected].