Associated Students, Inc. allocated $42,000 Nov. 7 to the Peak Adventures recreation program, which faces a deficit for the sixth year in a row.

The running deficit is due mostly to an increase in insurance costs, van loans and increased wages, according to the ASI Finance and Budget Committee. For the past six years, Peak Adventures has failed to meet the expected revenue generation projected by its yearly budget.

Not everyone on the board believed that allocating money would solve the deficit.

“I voted against the allocation not because I don?t like Peak Adventures, but I would instead like to see an outside consultant to look further into the business and analyze it,” said ASI Director of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Luke Wood. “We would have to pay the deficit either now or later on in the year.”

Many ASI officials believe the unrealistic budget set for Peak Adventures was approved because of an error by last year?s Board and executive director.

Wood does not think the program will ever be shut down, however, he feels there may be some changes if they continue to have budget problems.

“It doesn?t matter that the program is in deficit; it?s a great business and a beneficial service for students,” Wood said.

Jael Barnoske, Director of Peak Adventures, believes in order to attain the realistic numbers, the business would require the extra $42,000 allocated last week. Then executive director Carol Ackerson knew the budget estimate was low, according to Barnoske.

“She knew all about this; we even had a dialogue regarding this issue,” Barnoske said.

During last week?s board meeting, ASI Interim Executive Director Pat Worley suggested it would be irresponsible if the board chose not to allocate the money to Peak Adventures.

“The reality is that Peak Adventures has not seen growth in revenue services and we need to keep an eye on the revenue program over the course of the year,” Worley said.

ASI Director of Post-Baccalaureate Mohamed Hamada believes the Peak Adventures program needs to be re-evaluated.

“The resolution didn?t properly address the problem that Peak Adventures is facing,” Hamada said. “The $28,000 that cost them to move the Challenge Center years ago should not be a part of the deficit this year; that was a problem of the past.”

When Peak Adventures changed the location of the Challenge Center to make room for road construction, it cost them approximately $28,000, plus the revenue lost while the center was closed.

“The University was supposed to give us $20,000 to help with the cost of the move, but I never knew if the money got through. The previous director of Peak Adventures didn?t know either,” Barnoske said. “Nobody really knows what happened to the $20,000. It?s something of the past and we now have other things to consider,”

Along with opposing board members, Lobby Corps, a work team developed to inform students of legislative actions, submitted a recommendation opposing the allocation of funds. The reasoning, according to the recommendation, was because many Lobby Corps members were convinced that neither the need nor amount of student use warranted such a large allocation of funds.

“Peak Adventures doesn?t have an organized form to keep track of their participants. We are going to need a more elaborate method of keeping track of numbers in the future,” said ASI President Artemio Pimentel. When asked for the number of participants each year, Barnoske said she hand counts invoices, trip registration forms and rental forms, but said the program has no set method of tracking the number of students that repeatedly use the service.