Sacramento State's University Transportation and Parking Services has asked Associated Students Inc. to pay off additional costs related to the school's contract with Sacramento Regional Transit, which provides fee-less transportation to Sac State students.
The university has asked that ASI pay almost $12,000 in costs related to the contract.
Each Sac State student receives colored sleeves for their student IDs, which allows them to ride for free on all buses and light rail run by RT. Before 2009, ASI, along with fees collected from parking passes, paid for the RT contract.
But in April 2009, a ballot measure passed to implement a student fee to pay for the contract. Students now pay a transit fee each semester to receive their sleeves, which was at $12.50 a semester this year, an increase from $7.50 last year. In 2011-12, the fee will increase to $17.50.
But with declining enrollment, the fee has not been enough to cover the costs of the contract.
Last year, ASI agreed to pay $71,228 to pay off the RT contract, because the $7.50-per-student fee did not cover the full costs.
This year, with a reduction of more than 2,000 students from last year, the $738,230 transit fee was not covered by the $673,958 in student fee revenue that was brought in by the transit fee.
But ASI is not acting as quickly to pay off the extra costs.
ASI Executive Vice President Rylan Gervase said he believes it is the university's responsibility to pay for the contract.
"The university did sign the contract with RT," Gervase said. "If the original way they chose to pay for it was insufficient, then they are going to have to find funding from somewhere else."
But Gervase said if it comes down to students having to pay higher student fees in order to cover the costs of the contract, ASI should pay the off the contract with reserve funds.
"Ideally, the university should be paying for this," Gervase said. "But as an ASI Board member, I'm committed to make sure that students do not see any fee increases."
Kim Nava, Sac State spokeswoman, said student fee increases are not an option to pay off the contract, even if ASI does not pay off the extra costs.
Instead, she said the contract would be paid off with faculty and staff transit sleeve purchases, and money brought in from parking citations.
Nava also said ASI has known it would have to pay off the RT contract for three years.
The cost of the contract has steadily risen over the years. Next year, the payment to RT will reach more than $1 million. With transit fee revenue estimated at $946,155, the university wants ASI to pay $52,872 to pay off the contract.
Gervase said the university asking for this amount of money was too much.
"They have had a year to figure out how they were going to pay for it," Gervase said. "Increasing student fees and then asking for more money isa little ridiculous."
Gervase said ASI tried to negotiate with the university to re-establish the cut Hornet Shuttle lines, which the student government would accept as condition to paying off the RT contract; the university rejected the idea.
Nava said the RT contract and the Hornet Shuttle are different. She said the RT contract is legally binding, while the Hornet Shuttle is a discretionary expense.
"We understand that ASI would like to see the (shuttle) schedule restored, but the Hornet Express and the contract with RT are two separate programs that need to operate independently from one another," Nava said. "We understand that the Hornet Express is a well-liked program on campus, and that many students rely on it each semester to get to and from campus."
She said the university needed to cut some lines in order for it to stay financially sound.
"Last year, we recognized that the shuttle program's expenditures were exceeding its budget," Nava said. "With no expectation of increased revenue to operate the shuttle, we needed to make some changes to the schedule as it had previously been structured."
In an email to Rylan Gervase, Associate Vice President for Business and Administrative Services Abigail Stone said she expects ASI to cover the extra costs of the RT contract.
"The university expects that ASI will honor its commitment to the university and pay the additional funds needed to cover the student share of the payment," Stone said.
Tim Sandoval can be reached at [email protected]
