The good times are rolling for Associated Students, Inc. as they look at how to spend $8.08 million for the coming financial year at today?s board meeting.

The proposed 2002-03budget is the largest in ASI?s history, fueled by a projected $5.55 million in student fees and another $2.53 million that various programs themselves will earn next year.

“It?s a solid budget. Very sound, very responsible,” said ASI Vice President of Finance Tom Hughes.

Hughes, who is running for ASI president, said that no student programs face cuts, including the Children?s Center or Peak Adventures.

This year?s budget outlook is a far cry from two years ago, when ASI slashed expenses and retooled operations to stem the flow of red ink caused by a $300,000 deficit.

Things are much different these days because “Tidal Wave II,” the record surge in the number of students enrolling at Sacramento State, is creating a financial tsunami for ASI as higher enrollment is generating more student fee money. The university anticipates more than 28,000 students for next fall, up more than 1,000 from this semester.

“We?ve benefited by having more students on campus,” Hughes said. “If the enrollment numbers hold up and things go as we think they will, by the end of next year we?ll have $300,000 in a cash reserve.”

ASI?s Children?s Center evening program is in the clear, not so much because of recent streamlining efforts, but because officials realized that they would lose federal grant money by closing it.

“Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) funds provide a maximum of $118,000, but we?d be hard-pressed to earn that money without the evening program,” said Pat Worley, ASI interim executive director.

ASI estimates that closing the Children?s Center after 6 p.m. would save only $40,000 in salaries and facility costs.

While debate about the future of one program is over, debate over another may just be starting.

Peak Adventures? 2002-03 budget is set to jump 17 percent, from $384,116 to $451,844.

“We are giving a realistic picture of how much it costs,” Hughes said. “The university might have a problem with that.”

The program came under fire last semester when, for the seventh year in a row, ASI allocated contingency funds to bail out an anticipated $40,000 deficit. Since then, under the leadership of Peak?s Director Jael Barnoske and with the benefit of a mild winter, the program has recovered.

But Hughes and other ASI officials said that it was because previous administrations habitually underestimated what it costs to run the program, it could never meet budget. This year, Hughes wanted a more accurate number, even if it carried some political costs, since the program is a perennial target of board members and university administrators who think it is a frivolous program.

On its Web site, Peak Adventures bills itself as “an outdoor adventure provider” with the motto, “Our work is your play.” It organizes and subsidizes student trips to the mountains, the coast, the wine country and other regional recreation, teaches outdoor living skills, operates the campus ropes course and repairs and services bicycles.

The budget proposal holds the line on wages, taxes and benefits to approximately the same $2.5 million figure as the 2001-02 fiscal year. About half that amount will pay for full time permanent staff such as the incoming executive director and associate director.

The rest will go to ASI officer and staff stipends and wages for the 550-575 students ASI employs each year.

“We?ve built in a small increase, about $23,000, for merit raises,” Hughes said. “We haven?t raised pay rates in two years, so it is due.”

The ASI board meets today at 1:30 p.m. in the Foothill Suite on the third floor of the University Union.

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