When Stephen DeSalvo leaves office after his fourth semester as Student Association comptroller, he wants to ensure the practices he’s put into place to protect student money aren’t forgotten.

He plans to introduce several measures during the second half of the 57th Session. These include a task force to improve SA’s financial training sessions, a bill to limit abuses of miscellaneous money and an additional bill to establish rules about donations.

“When you first take on the position of comptroller, you’re probably overwhelmed,” he said.  “Going into a second term, at the very best now you know the job, you know the role, you know the student groups involved and the process.”

Fiscal training task force:

Each semester, the comptroller holds several sessions to help people in student organizations understand how to submit their budgets. It’s mandatory to attend a session to apply for money.

To improve these sessions, DeSalvo said, he sent an email to every registered student organization in July about forming a task force. More than 20 people responded.

The group will meet several times during the first few weeks of classes, and the recommendations students make during these sessions will be used to help improve fiscal training.

“Not only are they going to bring up misunderstandings and issues (with the fiscal training sessions), they’re going to be the ones to come up with solutions,” DeSalvo said about the people on the committee.

Assistant Comptroller Patrick Douglas will chair the meetings, DeSalvo said. This is being done to avoid any conflicts of interest and hopefully make people more willing to voice concerns, he said.

Miscellaneous money:

When a student organization holds an event and sells tickets, the money goes into a miscellaneous account in that group’s name. Only that group can use the money — with the comptroller’s approval — and the funds don’t roll over after the spring semester.

DeSalvo said some groups have tried to spend money on items that don’t benefit the entire campus, such as clothing for their executive board members and gifts for seniors.

Money in these accounts isn’t from the student activity fee, he said, but the money often comes from students buying tickets to events.

DeSalvo said he stated what this money can be used for during the beginning of last semester, but wants to put this policy in the codes to prevent future misuses of money.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” he said.  “Something needs to be done to protect student money.”

Donation policy:

In another new policy, DeSalvo said he’s looking to make groups accountable for making the decision to donate money — before it’s collected from students.

Right now, money from a group’s miscellaneous account can be donated, and many times it is to local and national charities.

With this bill, organizations would have to specify where they intended to donate money from an event before it’s held.  The requirement makes it easier for SA to keep track of money that’s intended to be donated, he said, and helps the university for accounting reasons.

He said this isn’t to mandate where money can be donated, just to hold organizations accountable.

Published on August 26, 2013 at 1:44 am

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum