After a decision last week from Newcomb Business Services to end retroactive spending by Student Council, University officials and Council members are now holding negotiations to decide whether the policy change will stand.
Newcomb Business Services oversees Council's appropriations processes and is responsible for conducting transactions of contracted independent organizations. In addition to its semi-annual appropriations, Council holds four rolling appropriations rounds meant for CIOs that plan their budgets on a shorter timeline, according to Council's Web site. Retroactive spending occurs when CIOs apply to receive reimbursement for an expenditure that was not in their original budget during a rolling round.
"Typically, groups apply for items before they purchase them," said Colin Hood, Council's vice president of organizations. "The [Newcomb] Business Services office has said that retroactive spending can no longer happen."
In an e-mail sent Nov. 14 to Council members that was later obtained by The Cavalier Daily, Assistant Director Marc Patrouch stated that Business Services will no longer honor any retroactive spending requests.
"Business Services cannot support retroactive spending by Contracted Independent Organizations and Student Council should not provide funding for these expenditures," the e-mail states. "Any retroactive spending requests considered exceptional in nature such as the club sport example ... should be presented to Business Services for final approval."
After a meeting between Hood, Council President John Nelson, Appropriations Committee Co-Chairs Brendan Sudol and Jennifer Spurgeon and Business Services, however, University officials decided to further consider their decision with the hope of clarifying Council's retroactive spending policies.
"There's not necessarily a prohibition on retroactive spending," Director of Business Services Charles Rush said. "What it is is that there's a current set of policies that the previous administrations had put in place a few years ago and it's just been maintained by each of the administrations that come into existence ... We were operating on what the administration has done in previous years and this administration is looking to do something different. The conversation we had with them was that we need to wait ... and figure out what the process is going to be this year."
Currently, there is no clause in the Student Activity Fee Guidelines - the document that governs the appropriations process - to specifically address retroactive spending. Before the decision to end retroactive spending, those types of appropriations were seen on a case-by-case basis, Hood said.
"The Student Council policy is that it is allowed, however strongly discouraged," he said. "But I tell student groups all the time, 'We will look at your request; however it is at your own risk to go on those expenditures because we can't guarantee that we can reimburse you.'"
Rush stressed Council's need to be as transparent as possible about how it responds to retroactive spending requests.
"Whatever the decision they come to, [it needs to be] fair and consistent across the board," he said. "We want to get something in writing to make it clear how Student Council wants to work with this piece and so we're all on the same page."
Hood agreed that Council should further clarify how it responds to retroactive spending requests.
"It's not necessarily something that's transparent," he said. "It wasn't explicitly in the SAF guidelines... We need to make that section on accessing funds in SAF Guidelines more clear."
Sudol speculated, however, that the Business Office's initial decision to prohibit retroactive spending could have stemmed from concerns about potential increases in retroactive spending requests.
"I think the business office was concerned that this retroactive budgeting would grow larger than it is right now, but it's not a large part of the appropriations process right now," Sudol said. Hood noted that retroactive spending constitutes about 10 to 15 percent of funds allocated to CIOs.
Rush insisted, though, that any policy enforced by the University simply is in response to administrative changes within Council. In a Nov. 16 e-mail correspondence between Rush and The Cavalier Daily, he did not comment about Business Services' Nov. 13 decision to end retroactive spending, only stating that officials and Council members had already held a meeting that morning. He also stated that Council members could fully explain the situation.
As Council members and Business Services officials continue to negotiate toward a final decision, students like Sudol have expressed their support for the current retroactive spending system. He said it provides student groups with more monetary leeway when they need it.
"The Appropriations Committee feels like the stipulation of retroactive spending allows student groups the flexibility to act quickly and creatively when opportunities arise between rolling rounds," Sudol said.
He added that the majority of retroactive spending requests come from club sports because of the nature of their expenditures.
"Sometimes a registration fee is needed for a tournament for months in advance and ... is due at the beginning of the semester before any rolling rounds have happened," Sudol said. "So without retrospective spending, they wouldn't be able to get reimbursed for that fee."
Ryan Hicks, president of the Black Expression Awareness and Thought Society, said he also supports the continuation of current retroactive spending practices and worried that its abolition could hurt similar CIOs.
"There are little things that come up because no one ever thinks of everything, so it helps if you can request for a reimbursement later on," Hicks said. "If you don't have the chance to get the funds in the back end, you can either make your event not as successful or have to cancel it all together if you have some very important issues ... that'll hurt a lot of CIOs."
A final agreement about the retroactive spending process is still undecided and will be discussed again between Newcomb Business Services officials and Council members, Hood said. Council hopes to clarify and to define the system before its semi-annual appropriations period next spring, he added.
"We're going to do business as usual and we're going to do appropriations the same way we've been making them all semester," Hood said. "We are going to continue to have these conversations with the business office and the [Student Activities Committee] to clarify what circumstances justify retroactive spending for student groups."
Such changes would be subject to approval by members of the Student Activities Center and Council's representative body, Rush said.
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