Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 presented his State of Finance, a summary of his goals and accomplishments from his two years as treasurer, highlighting a cap on the Student Activities Fee for the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year last Monday night. In the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium, Ha began by explaining the weaknesses in the financial process when he was first elected. He said clubs did not really understand the financial process, which is why he created a treasurer's manual and packet from the Office of the Treasurer which was extended this year, and the creation of a Web site.

A large portion of his speech focused on the unspent funds from the SAF that has accumulated over the past couple years. He said that right now there is $436,000 in rollover and unspent money. Of this money, $120,000 is unintentional rollover. Another $140,000 is intentional rollover, which is part of the Capital Expenditures fund, a reserve and emergency fund.

The rest of the money makes up a discretionary fund, club fundraising money and gifts-money with which the Student Union and administration does not intervene.

Ha said one problem is that the Finance Board has not been doing an adequate job allocating unspent money from the first semester to clubs during the second semester.

Ha explained that in order to remedy this, there will be a cap on the SAF for the 2008 to 2009 year. Typically the SAF increases at the same rate as University tuition, but this is unnecessary for next year because there are enough resources from this year to sustain clubs. In order to spend the rollover funds, all members of the student body can submit ideas in the next coming weeks for a project on which to spend the money. The ideas will then be put to vote by the student body.

Undergraduates can be "stakeholders of [the] SAF," Ha said.

Ha said long-term goals for the treasury include incentives for clubs to plan better in order to reduce rollover. This will include granting high and low priorities to clubs during marathon, in which clubs request money from the F-Board, for clubs that have proven to be financially responsible. General grants for events for clubs began last semester, and by the coming early marathon, which takes place at the end of the semester and the money allocated is used in the following semester. Clubs can apply for general grants for the whole semester with a list of line items.

Ha said clubs will also be able to "appeal any unsatisfactory decisions made by the F-Board" following early and regular marathon. There will be a variety of payment options including the previously mentioned p-card, a consolidated SAF management system with a detailed transaction list, a Web site updated 24/7 and easier methods for clubs to fill out forms.

Ha said a new software program, Village Software, will "consolidate all financial management into one system" and will hopefully go into effect by the end of July.

Ha also said the office of the treasurer needs to be sustained because it was "one of the best things that happened to me this year," he said. He said the number of withdrawals and deposits made by clubs rose dramatically this year. He praised the office of the treasurer for getting the processing times of requests down to approximately 24 hours. He also said allocation of SAF funds rose to about 94 percent this year and 133 percent of revenue was spent by clubs.

In addition to current challenges and solutions, Ha explained three fundamental things he learned and improved upon during his time as treasurer. The first was the problem of clubs having several different accounts, including some off-campus. Under the new system, the treasury has one off-campus bank account and can "see all available funds at once" for all clubs.

Ha stressed the importance of a centralized system and a "one-destination concept" in which all funds are under the control of the treasury, all transactions occur through the treasury, and there is a uniform system and complete oversight.

Ha said one of his primary interests was serving club leaders and the student body with the importance of financial autonomy.

At the end of his speech, Ha introduced Treasurer-elect Max Wallach '09 and thanked members of the Senate, Office of the Treasurer, F-Board, administrators and University staff. The F-Board "should have spent rollover to go to Cancun in two weeks," he joked.

Wallach said the incoming F-board is the "most-qualified that I have ever seen." He said he will work on using the rollover money to benefit the student body and increase the speed and efficiency of club monetary transactions.

Ha also announced that Student Sexuality Information Service and the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club were the best-financially managed clubs of the year.

The speech was informative and needed, Students for Environmental Action President Stephanie Sofer '09 said. "I support especially the opportunity for there to be a budget as opposed to [a line item system]. I think that will help clubs like SEA be more innovative, use funds more and more efficiently," she said.

For more information on the SAF cap, Capital Expenditures fund and the addition of a staffer to work on Student Union transactional finances see sidebar.