I have another question regarding the finances. You said you want to increase the funding for Campus Events so we can have a better welcome week which would be awesome. My concern arises with your ability to actualy do that. Doesn't the VP Finance, in conjunction with the business manager, finance commissioner and comptroller analyze the budget this year and then make recommendations for next years budget. Then the VP Finance takes those recommendations and creates the budget in March which eventually gets passed by the SRA in April, which is before the President begins his term in May?

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

I have another question regarding the finances. You said you want to increase the funding for Campus Events so we can have a better welcome week which would be awesome. My concern arises with your ability to actualy do that. Doesn't the VP Finance, in conjunction with the business manager, finance commissioner and comptroller analyze the budget this year and then make recommendations for next years budget. Then the VP Finance takes those recommendations and creates the budget in March which eventually gets passed by the SRA in April, which is before the President begins his term in May?

Hey Dan,

My hopes were that as the President-Elect, I could be in consultation meetings with all parties involved in the budget making process, especially the outgoing Vice-President Finance and work towards a feasible solution to increase Campus Events' Welcome Week budget lines.

Of course, if this is fiscally unlikely, there is always special projects funding available for Board of Directors members to fulfill their campaign and platform goals.

Keep the feedback coming!

Just as a reminder, Casey is located behind the fireplace in MUSC if you have any questions! Open air discussion is so much easier and personal -- A quality an MSU President should surely possess.

PS, he is currently playing John Mayer if you want to hear some quality tunes.

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

I have another question regarding the finances. You said you want to increase the funding for Campus Events so we can have a better welcome week which would be awesome. My concern arises with your ability to actualy do that. Doesn't the VP Finance, in conjunction with the business manager, finance commissioner and comptroller analyze the budget this year and then make recommendations for next years budget. Then the VP Finance takes those recommendations and creates the budget in March which eventually gets passed by the SRA in April, which is before the President begins his term in May?

The most important part of a budget is to ensure that the entire leadership of the organization - as well as all the staff - are on board and moving in the same stragetic direction.

To disregard The President & Cheif Executive Officer of the union in the budget process - especially considering their influence on the stragety of the organziation is a huge mistake. Not having everyone on board with the plan [esp the head of the company] results in variances, bickering, lack of alignment, and thus presents a barrier to getting results.

This process needs to be looked at.

Originally Posted by Furgs

WUSC Student Refugee Fee: 102.70

I can see why some people might object to paying into the WUSC Student Refugee Fee but I'd say it's an overly good. Do we really want to strip the education of a refugee in a war torn country who just wants to learn?

Just my 2 cents.

Whoawhoa. I did not know about this fee. D:

Some of us are not as altruistic as you. I, quite frankly, don't care about the education of someone I'll never meet/know/etc.

That's 3 and a half worth's of food for me. I'd love to have 100 extra bucks in my pocket.

Just as a side note, I see Casey walking around school ALL the time. He seems so chill. XD

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Whoawhoa. I did not know about this fee. D:

Some of us are not as altruistic as you. I, quite frankly, don't care about the education of someone I'll never meet/know/etc.

That's 3 and a half worth's of food for me. I'd love to have 100 extra bucks in my pocket.

Just as a side note, I see Casey walking around school ALL the time. He seems so chill. XD

The refugees are students who go to Mac, and usually live in residence their first year...so you could very well know them, but not know it.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

That's 3 and a half worth's of food for me. I'd love to have 100 extra bucks in my pocket.

Just to clarify, the WUSC Refugee fee is $1.37, not $102.70. I think that the user who posted above copied/pasted the wrong number, as $102.70 is the fee for the HSR bus pass.

More info on student fees can be found in MSU Bylaw 5 - Financial Affairs.

Originally Posted by emtee10

Just to clarify, the WUSC Refugee fee is $1.37, not $102.70. I think that the user who posted above copied/pasted the wrong number, as $102.70 is the fee for the HSR bus pass.

More info on student fees can be found in MSU Bylaw 5 - Financial Affairs.

I should of cleared that up thanks Matt. That would of been one hell of an education they were getting

Originally Posted by lorend

The refugees are students who go to Mac, and usually live in residence their first year...so you could very well know them, but not know it.

OHH, I understood that we were donating it to some country or whatever.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

OHH, I understood that we were donating it to some country or whatever.

Nope, it allows persons who are considered refugees to attend Mac. For example, one lived in Edwards with a friend of mine when they were in first year.

Originally Posted by james2255

The most important part of a budget is to ensure that the entire leadership of the organization - as well as all the staff - are on board and moving in the same stragetic direction.

To disregard The President & Cheif Executive Officer of the union in the budget process - especially considering their influence on the stragety of the organziation is a huge mistake. Not having everyone on board with the plan [esp the head of the company] results in variances, bickering, lack of alignment, and thus presents a barrier to getting results.

This process needs to be looked at.

I agree with you in theory but for the MSU there isn't too much assistance with this approach.

For starters it should be limited to the 4 individuals(VP Finance, Comptroller, General Manager and Finance Commissioner) as those 4 individuals arguably understand how the finances work the best and how budgeting should be performed. Presidents/president-elects may not understand the budgeting process and their vision may be feasibly unattainable. So a president-elect could come in and say all the funds go to referendum, students vote not to pay half of them and the budget for services are messed up for years (not to pick on only casey's platform point but just an example)

Next, the budget of the MSU does not drastically change over the years. As you know the budget is set based on the performance over the past years and projected values of the future (and boy is this budget review fun already. I looked at the first couple services and had 10 red flags go off). A lot of the predicted values are based on trends analyzed over the past year, something again the president-elect would not know unless he was heavily involved in the process this year.

But that being said James you are very right that the president and CEO should have their input listened to in the process, I would just not want them directly involved.

Unfortunately that is the problem with student politics. Many presidents have these outstanding ideas and goals but when they get elected they find they are unattainable either for financial, resource or time reasons. I hope that whoever wins this election have an idea of the problems facing them ahead. Good luck to all

Although I would agree that the VP-Finance and his affiliates would have detailed knowledge of the finances, perhaps more so than the president I am not sure I agree with "Boccaccio". I think it is essential for the President to always be on top of MSU finances and understand how the budget lines are going. It is important that the president's plans are also taken into account into the finances. After all his position is the only one elected by students at large. It may not be the President's duties to deal with the day-to-day tasks but it is his responsibility to always be on top of the money matters. His/her ideas are the ones that have been selected by all voting undegrads and should respected when it comes to financial matters.

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

Next, the budget of the MSU does not drastically change over the years.

Unfortunatly what this says to me is that MSU Inc.'s Budget is not based on stragety or business plans but is rather just a collection of trends and analysis on past data - which is explained to be the biggest pitfall in budgeting by any introductory cost accounting class.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Whoawhoa. I did not know about this fee. D:

Just as a side note, I see Casey walking around school ALL the time. He seems so chill. XD

Yeah, I saw him in La Piazza yesterday... he was wearing this awesome pink shirt.

Originally Posted by casey.park

Basically, if elected, I vow to bring all student fees to referendum to allow the general student body to decide which fees should stay and which should go. This being said, it will be consensus among all students and not on an individual basis.

From my perspective, it is necessary that students have the opportunity to pay the fees they want to, so that obsolete fees are eliminated and more money ends up back in your pockets. Honing in on Bylaw 5: Financial Affairs, students can see how much they pay every year. If these numbers strike you as being a problem, a referendum is in order to properly reflect what students want.

https://www.msumcmaster.ca/studentGo.../MSUBylaws.htm

Hi Casey,

Two questions:

1) Would you literally bring all student fees listed in Bylaw 5 to referendum? If not, which fees would you exclude, and on what basis?

2) Which fees, in your opinion, are "obsolete"? Put another way, if student fees were brought to a referendum, which fees would you personally be in favour of repealing?

Thanks.