By Fifi Enyi
The Students’ Legislative Council completed the first reading of its 1999/2000 annual budget Tuesday.
“In terms of revenues and expenditures this year’s budget is approximately $5 million; last year’s was approximately $4.7 million,” said Students’ Union President Rob South.
The increase represents the adjustment in spending areas of this year’s budget.
“In January 2000 students will not have to pay for GST on their textbooks at the used bookstore,” said SU Vice-president Operations and Finance Amanda Affonso.
In addition, the academic travel and conference spending was increased, a result of student pressure.
“Because every year the demand for this service from SU increases, we’re not able to fund students as much as we would have liked,” said South.
Campus clubs also received additional funding.
“The number of clubs on this campus is growing and the way they operate is becoming more sophisticated and this creates an increased demand on SU resources for club funding,” said South.
However, this year’s special motions fund budget, which supports unforeseen events warranting financial assistance, decreased.
“Special motions this year decreased, and only because as an executive and as a council we’re going to support SLC driven initiatives, things that benefit the U of C student body as a whole not just certain groups,” said Affonso.
According to Affonso, this year’s budget was completed with more ease than previous years, and will not hinder students’ quality of life.
“There have been changes that will benefit students, but there’s nothing that will take away from students,” said Affonso. “There will be no negative impact.”
Affonso is optimistic the budget will be approved.
“I don’t foresee any problems,” she said. “We have nine representatives from the council sitting on the budget committee to go through this document and create a budget that is representative of our views as students.”
The budget will undergo a second reading at the June 29 SLC meeting before it is passed.