Correction added
More than half of the remaining semester funds for the Downtown student government could go toward student recreation — a move that will help pay student employees who have yet to receive a paycheck this year.
The ASU Student Recreation Center at the Downtown campus will request $46,793.10 for the fall semester during a Downtown senate meeting Friday.
The Associated Students of Arizona State University Downtown has about $80,000 left of its total $138,000 budget this semester.
Downtown campus recreation will be requesting approximately $30,000 more than it was granted for the fall 2009 semester, even though the student government has nearly $15,000 less this year.
“The money’s there for everyone and this is an important program for the campus,” said Alan Hersh, journalism sophomore and Downtown campus recreation personnel manager.
The center needs more money this semester because the Downtown campus recreation staff has tripled in size since last year, Hersh said.
The government has less money this year because student fees paid by Downtown graduate students now go toward the Graduate and Professional Student Association instead of ASASUD.
The Downtown government is in charge of appropriating funds from student fees that go toward campus programs. The various events funded include blood drives, student trips and fall welcome programs.
Most of the campus recreation money, nearly $39,000 of it, will be used to pay 30 student staff members.
These positions include the managers, officials and supervisors of flag football games, as well as semester-long positions like the league manager, office assistant, marketing assistant, operation assistant and equipment assistant.
The rest of the funds are used for renting facilities, securing transportation and hiring security officers for the various events.
So far, only employees who worked for campus recreation last year have been getting paid, Hersh said.
Their paychecks are coming from a Downtown government fund of money left over from last year.
The Downtown government received $60,000 in funds that went unspent by student organizations last year, Downtown President Christian Vasquez said.
At the beginning of August, the executive board divided the money among several organizations, including Downtown campus recreation.
Vasquez said campus recreation received between $6,000 and $10,000 of the $60,000 at the beginning of August, and this fund has been paying for the fields, equipment, transportation and salaries of last year’s employees.
However, none of the new employees — about 15 students — have been paid this year.
“Obviously we were frustrated. Who likes to work and not get paid?” said journalism freshman Eddie Ralph, who works as a referee in campus recreation.
Part of the problem, according to journalism sophomore and former marketing manager of campus recreation Nathan McWhortor, is that ASU Human Resources didn’t get the new employees’ paperwork finalized.
However, as of Thursday at 12:30 p.m., human resources told Downtown campus recreation that the paperwork finally went through, and the new student employees would likely be paid next week. The only thing now is to find the money to pay them with.
Currently, the Downtown senate seems to be in a bind. If campus recreation doesn’t get all the money it asks for, either positions will be removed from the organization, or events will be cut, said Chad Ellsworth, lead administrator for Downtown campus recreation.
However, many senators feel giving more than one-third of the yearly student fees to campus recreation is a misappropriation of funds.
“We’ll probably ask them to amend the amount they’re asking for, but it’s a huge organization on campus, and a lot of students love it,” said Michelle Lauer, journalism junior and Cronkite school senator.
However, regardless of whether they get all the money or not, campus recreation will pay all of the employees that have worked this year.
“Someone will find the money to pay these people … they will be paid for the work they’ve done,” Ellsworth said.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
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