WLUSU board approves 2011-12 budget

At the April 28 Wilfrid Laurier University Student’s Union (WLUSU) board of directors meeting, the 2011-12 budget was the primary focus of discussion among the incoming board and president.

Before the budget was brought to the table, discussion began with WLUSU general manager, Mike McMahon, presenting a revised construction plan for the washrooms on the third floor of the Fred Nichols Campus Centre (FNCC).

At the Mar. 25 board meeting, the board approved the renovations proposed for the third floor to accommodate for more study space, but did not approve the washroom renovations due to the extra cost, and the view by some board members that it wasn’t a priority.

The revised plan for the washrooms, however, was reduced by $11,000 from the original $80,000.

“Not addressing a crisis, but like an old home, you just renovate and go,” said McMahon.

After a bit of conversation between the board members, the motion eventually passed.

Following the in-camera session, the proposed budget for 2011-12 was brought into discussion. The budget, however, was spilt up into separate categories.

After the Laurier Brantford budget was approved, incoming WLUSU president and CEO Nick Gibson presented his budget for the coming school year. Gibson highlighted a number of changes such as a student departmental reserve of approximately $30,000 that will address changing issues throughout the academic year.

“It’s something that is sort of new,” Gibson addressed to the board. “We want to get back to basics, to make sure we are providing for the needs, for whatever they might be.”

As well, one of the new additions to the budget this year is a texting service set up by the union called “Fix My Laurier” (FML), which allows students to inform the school what issues they have through a text. The service will also be used for students to answer various polls the union will ask throughout the academic year.

According to Sean Madden of external affairs, the service will approximately cost $50 a month, will not charge the sender of the text any fees and will have 1000 free outgoing texts a month. In addition, executives from both committees have volunteered to manage the system, in which they will personally reply to the concerned student.

After some slight discussion following Gibson’s proposal, the budget for the 2011-12 year was unanimously approved.