The ASUC's 2009-10 budget passed in the senate Thursday morning, ending a 10-hour meeting during which student groups made final appeals for

more funding.

The $1.67 million budget, which was approved with 18 votes and two abstentions, included cuts to student groups, executive offices and the senate. Although the preliminary budget included a 4 percent cut to all student groups, representatives from 16 groups succeeded in gaining more funding during the meeting.

In total, the senate granted the groups $4,900 in additional funds, while minor cuts were made to five other groups. As part of efforts to help control spending, the senate also slashed its own budget for next year from $15,000 to $7,000 and made cuts to executive budgets.

Despite falling revenue from commercial leases, the new budget is $37,000 larger than last year.

Finance Officer Madelaine Batac said Thursday that the increase is due to unforeseen expenses from the last month, including an additional $40,000 of student fee revenue diverted to the Graduate Assembly due to increased graduate student enrollment. She added that the approved budget reflected the challenge of assisting student groups in a time when the ASUC is struggling to ensure its own financial solvency.

"I'm thankful for all the groups for understanding and sacrificing a portion of their funding to make the ASUC fiscally sustainable," she said. "I'm extremely glad that it's over. It's been a long process."

Berkeley College Republicans Senator Tommy Owens said the senate should have taken Batac's advice to cut spending earlier, but that the senate also should have planned ahead.

"We should have budgeted for shortfalls. In not doing so, we were shortsighted," he said.

Despite the funding appeals that were accepted, some student groups said they still felt they were being underfunded. However, ASUC officials announced at the beginning of discussions that they did not expect the final budget would be able to please everyone.

"We are experiencing fiscal difficulties right now, and we can't fund your groups in the thousands, so please be reasonable," Batac said.

While conceding the difficult financial situation the ASUC is facing, some students said they were unsatisfied by the budget process.

Lajuanda Asemota, executive director of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center on campus, spoke on behalf of black student magazine Onyx Express. She said the magazine was the only direct voice for African Americans on campus, and that the senate had the responsibility to acknowledge the importance of some groups over others.

"If we're going to increase (money for other) publications ... then I would ask the same respect," Asemota said. "We have to hold our student government accountable."

Other students added that the budget meeting focused too much on small allocations to student groups, reducing overall efficiency.

"They were debating for an hour for $18.35," said Amir Zahedi, resource director for the Iranian Student Alliance in America at the meeting. "Four breaks lasting more than 15 minutes in the last five hours ... I've got other things to do."

Tomer Ovadia of The Daily

Californian contributed to this report.

Tags: ASUC BUDGET, ASUC SENATE, ASUC