Elon University’s Student Government Association’s finance board has updated the finance bylaws. Finance bylaws are updated every year. The finance board reviews notes made throughout the year on the current bylaws and reviews ideas the board has come up with which could be added to the bylaws. After reviewing, the vice president of finance, the finance board, the SGA senate and the rest of the executive council will have the opportunity to suggest changes.
SGA appointed Cayce Becker as the next vice president of finance during their April 9 meeting.
The finance board is made up of each class treasurer, four non-senate representatives, the assistant comptroller and the vice president of finance, who is a non-voting member of the board unless there is a tie.
One change to this year's bylaws is members of the finance board will have to undergo training. The training will be an annual process which reviews the SGA finance bylaws, an overview of how funding works and understanding the needs and roles of different student organizations.
The previous Vice President of Finance Ian Brecker said most members of the finance board are in their first term, so training them on what can and can not be funded is important and understanding what student organizations need to function.
Individuals seeking to request funding from SGA will have to go through the same requirements as organizations, but they have to meet with the vice president of finance at least two months before the request submission. If the funding request is greater than $9,000 the individual and the vice president of finance will have to meet 90 days before the request submission.
Organizations requesting more than $5,000 from SGA will have to submit the request 90 days before the submission deadline.
Organizations will have to go before the finance board to review expenses. After review, the finance board will invite the organization to present their request in front of the senate during a business meeting. The senate can then pass the request fully or with changes. Organizations will also be required to attend a mandatory Major Events training.
“It’s giving background knowledge in how to run a big event, with big funding, we hope to have a big event,” Brecker said. “It’s how the students can make it run smoothly and very easy compared to a smaller event.”
The bylaws outline how events located on-campus will be given priority for funding. Excess funding from one quarter will not automatically rollover to the next. Organizations who requested funding for one quarter but did not use all of the funds will have to meet with the vice president of finance to have the leftover funds rollover to the next quarter. Organizations will only have one week to submit a request to the finance board to rollover funds.
“That’s just keeping ourselves responsible and everyone responsible so we can get these events rolling and we can just focus on the new things as they come up, but not forget about the old things,” Brecker said.
The appeals process for organizations is also different in this year's finance bylaws. Previously, the finance board would review appeals for $0-$300 and the SGA review board would review appeals over $300. In the new bylaws, the SGA review board is the main body responsible for reviewing appeals, with some input from the finance board. The review board is made up of class presidents and the executive vice president.
“No matter the dollar amount, if it’s one cent to $8,000, the finance board looks over every dollar spent,” Brecker said. “That’s why they can’t be a participating figure in a repeal process. That’s why it has to go to the appeal board.”
The updated finance bylaws will go into effect June 1.