Members of the ASUC Senate Finance Committee said the student government would refrain from approving further funding for student groups until they know the balance of the senate's reserve fund.

Senators had hoped to dip into the reserve carry-forward fund to replenish the senate's contingency fund, which is used to fund student groups. But following a recommendation from Finance Officer Alan Ni, committee members decided at their Monday meeting that no further contingency funding should be considered until the reserve account balance is known.

Senators apologized for the development to student group representatives present at the meeting.

"Because we cannot allocate any money from our fund right now, we're going to ask you all to go home," said finance committee chair and independent Senator Huda Adem. "I'm really sorry. I apologize. Thanks for taking the time to come out."

The senate allocated approximately two-thirds of this year's contingency fund at its last two weekly meetings. Approximately $1,500 of the fund remains, although it began the year with $23,807, according to Ni.

"You can't transfer funds from a fund that you don't know the balance of," Ni said. "So the committee just decided not to consider any of those contingency funds because of those circumstances."

Last year's senate began its term with $300,000 in its reserve carry-forward fund and had about $142,000 in the fund at the end of term, according to Madelaine Batac, last year's finance officer. The senate transferred money from this fund to its contingency fund for allocation to student groups on multiple occasions throughout the course of the year.

Auxiliary Financial Services Manager Marilyn Stager said the reserve's balance will only be known once an annual financial audit of the ASUC is completed, though she said she did not know when that would happen.

Independent Senator Christopher Franco, a member of the committee, said senators have been fiscally responsible but that the issue of determining the carry-forward's balance was beyond the senate's control.

"It has nothing to do with the senate being responsible or analyzing bills critically," he said. "It's really up to the auditors to move forward and let us know how much is in the fund ... It's a very simple problem."

Student Action Senator Parth Bhatt, who is also a member of the committee, said he understood the inconvenience of the situation to student groups, but that he wants to ensure the senate's future ability to allocate funds.

"It isn't fair for student groups to have to wait, but what I would say is to be patient with us and to be understanding of the situation we're in," he said. "The reason that we're freezing the budget is in their best interest."

Tags: ASUC FINANCES, ASUC SENATE