A split over how to spend a fraction of the projected $8 million Associated Students, Inc. will receive from grants and student fees next year forced the board to adjourn last week?s meeting without passing its 2002-03 budget.

The meeting ended after a disagreement about whether to move part of the money budgeted to support campus organizations over to two programs designed to benefit individual students.

Each year, ASI supports programs such as the Multi Cultural Center or the Department of Design through grants. ASI also gives money to Dollars for Organizations and Clubs and Student Education and Leadership grants, which fund individual students who qualify for major related projects or club and organization activities.

“I wanted to balance out the funds with DOC/SEL and program grants, because with the summer activity fee increase, they were going to put roughly half of the activity fee into the grants,” said Post Baccalaureate director Mohamed Hamada, who is running for re-election. “I brought up the issue to make the fees more balanced and proportional.”

The proposed budget would put $53,000 into grant programs and $13,000 into the DOC/SEL fund. However, many board members, including ASI President Artemio Pimentel, wanted to increase DOC/SEL to $20,000 and reduce the grant money to $45,000.

Pimentel thought the budget plan was rushed.

“I think (ASI Vice President of Finance) Tom Hughes wanted the budget to pass because he wanted to do away and finish it,” ASI President Artemio Pimentel said. “I don?t think it?s smart to do that with $8 million dollars. I doubt he recognizes the changes that need to be made, and that?s his own fault.”

Hughes, who is running for ASI President, declined to comment about the issues surrounding the budget and the April 17 meeting.

But prior to the ill-fated board meeting, Hughes said he thought the budget was “sound.”

ASI Director of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Luke Wood, who is running for executive vice president on the Voice slate, supported the budget.

“If people have all year to plan the budget, then why are people complaining now?” Wood said after the meeting. “The board members on Guerra?s 180 slate all opposed it. They should have gone to the working board meeting if they wanted to know what was going on.”

All members of the board were present, except for Pimentel, Wood and Director of Arts and Letters JJ Hurley.

“The working board meetings are mandatory for the board and many people were present,” Guerra said. Wood believes that ASI Executive Vice President Eric Guerra?s adjournment of the meeting was “dirty politics on Eric?s behalf.”

“Guerra adjourned because I think he had to speak to a club about their slate,” Wood said. “I think it was his way of pushing back the budget.”

Guerra said he shows no bias while sitting as the chair of the board of directors.

“As the chair, I make decisions that I feel are in the best interest of the board,” Guerra said. “I gave the board many options to choose from and I felt that it would be best to re-evaluate and adjourn the meeting.”

Guerra also said that if the budget does not pass by June 1, “everything will be on hold.”

“The association will keep running, but we wouldn?t be able to make any future plans without a budget,” Guerra said. “It would be just like last semester when President Gerth held our budget until September.”

The board also approved a stipend review committee, for the adjustment of the director and executive position pay.

Pimentel said he did not feel comfortable approving an $8 million budget when he did not know enough about the figures and outcome of the stipend review.

“I was not ready to approve it; I didn?t know enough about what was going to happen with the numbers,” Pimentel said in a State Hornet interview.

“I think it?s up to the Finance and Budget committee to look at the issues, but it failed with the board, so it will be back on the agenda again.”

The board motioned to hand the dispute over to the Finance and Budget committee; however, the motion failed twice and left the board with the only option to adjourn, according to Pimentel.

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