8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Virtual Meeting via Teams
Attendees
Voting Members
Martin Abraham
Lorraine Acker
Mike Andriatch
Qudus Bawa-allah
Jennifer Blood
Monica Brasted
Frances Dearing
Michael Doyle
Tom Hernandez
Sara Kelly
Stephanie Learn
Yin Liu
Theresa Martinez
Carl O’Connor
James Onley
Skye Paine
Kathy Peterson
Heather Raczkowski
Jaime Spiller
Elizabeth Thorpe
Non-Voting Members
Julie Caswell
Steve Cook
Eileen Daniel
Damita Davis
Keith Davis
Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall
Ian Harper: Co-Chair
Mike Harrison
Rachael Killion
Gary Morog
Logan Rath
Elliot Weininger: Co-Chair
Melissa Wight
Robert Wyant
Guests
Steve Barber
Don Bigelow
Daniel Castaneda
Denise Copelton
Aaron Enriquez
Deborah Ferris
Kandie Gay
Anna Hintz
Cathy Houston-Wilson
Katelyn Krempecki
Hunter Lincoln
Jose Maliekal
Tammy Jo Manz
Bill McNamara
Brad Menear
Paul Montanaro
Brittany Narburgh
McKayla Nolan
George Piccolo
Carisma Rodriguez
Sarah Roffe
JRey Sia
Heather Southern
Mikhail Sokoloff
Bonnie Swoger
Susan Wielgosz
Regrets
Non-Voting Members
President Macpherson
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.
Approval of the Minutes
Dr. Weininger asked the committee to review the April 10, 2025, meeting minutes. Dr. Peterson motioned to approve the minutes; Dr. Spiller seconded the motion. 14 members voted to approve the minutes. Therefore, the minutes were approved.
Announcements
Dr. Weininger announced the following:
- The Budget Townhall will be on Thursday, May 8 at 11:00am. Members are encouraged to attend.
BSG Budget Presentation
Mr. Bawa-allah provided a presentation on the BSG budget. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:
- Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
- The statement was made to recognize this year’s BSG officers and their efforts to tackle the decline in the reserves.
- The suggestion was made to help with the reserves target of 25% or approximately $350,000, there are some secure government money market funds that are 3.5% right now and that could be another $5,000 over the course of the year.
- The question was raised regarding how our fee and expenses compare to other SUNY schools. It was stated that we have one of the lowest fees. The SUNY Chancellor commended us on being one of the best student governments. We are able to operate at pretty high efficacy while having one of the lowest fees.
- The question was raised regarding the $197,000 that goes towards student employment and how many students are employed under that amount? It was stated that there are 61 employees at BSG and that includes the Activities Board, Senators, Office Assistants, the three Executives, the Set-up and Event crew, and Graduate Assistant.
- The question was raised regarding whether the Stylus and the radio station were absorbing the biggest cuts. It was stated that it is not correct. The largest budget cut is from the priority services but particularly within the Activities Board because they have the most loaded budget from last year. They did not use what they believed they would spend leaving their actuals and expenditures not lining up. So, we lowered the budget to reflect what they spent this year.
- Clarification was requested that next year’s budgeted figures are in line with this year’s expenditure. It was stated that the way the budget was made was by looking at the actuals and looked at how many months were left. Then I took an average to see how much they were spending per event for each month and multiplied it out. In addition, I talked to them.
BASC Budget Presentation
Mr. McNamara provided a presentation on the BASC budget. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:
- Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
- The statement was made to congratulate Mr. McNamara on eight months at Brockport.
- The question was raised regarding level setting the meal plans and if this will raise the cost of the lowest cost meal plan. It was stated that we are not there yet, and this is something we are working towards with unlimited access meal plans. We will have to see where we have to be at the point in time when we switch over. For right now, the base meal price for unlimited access dining is going to be a certain amount. The lowest plan will be just unlimited access with no points.
- Clarification was requested with the unlimited access there would not be a point in time during the semester where a student would run out and they can’t eat anymore. It was stated never and that is the point of unlimited access. So, what we are saying is you have unlimited access from the first day to the last day and you never run out of meals. Right now, we might have 19, 14 or 10 meals per week and if you go through those meals halfway through the week, now you cannot eat. I do not feel like that happens often. What we tend to hear is that I have these extra meals left over and now I am frustrated because I have lost meals. We hear that people do not feel there is value in the current meal plans because they are losing meals. The other thing that we see is that students are looking for ways to use these meals up and the potential savings you can see with the unlimited access that helps keep the meal plans down because you are providing the services that people are looking for. Instead of using those extra meals on just anything to get that value, you will be providing the overall savings across the board each year.
- The question was raised regarding if the over $10 million in renovation investment is for the Harrison upgrade, the decommissioning of Brockway and the changes in Seymour. It was stated that over the next three years it is closer the $14 million. You are correct, it is enhancing some areas in Harrison, the decommissioning of Brockway and building out the Union.
- The question was raised regarding how the contributions to the students food and securities are made by donations to the pantry or free meal plans. It was stated that it will be per meal. Upcoming on April 30, there is a campaign for donations for Stomp Out Hunger and we will match up to $3,750 dollar for dollar. Instead of providing a dollar match we will be providing meals up to 250 meals. For us, it will not be providing meal plans, we will be providing meals. Right now, we are working through a plan of how those meals will be distributed.
- Clarification was requested if the direct support to the University figures are correct in changing from $700,000 to $1.2 million. It was stated that it correct.
- The question was raised regarding how the decision on the direct support figure is made and when it is made? It was stated that in the last few years we have been budgeting $700,000 and we take a look through the year on what level of support we can or should provide. In the last few years, we have typically gone from $700,000 to $970,000. So that is a decision we take a look at as we start getting into the spring semester, we see what our meal plans sales are, and we are doing some forecasting. We want to make sure we are able to contribute back to our net assets so we can reinvest as we need to into our facilities. Then we take a look at what level of support we can or should be providing. That is where this year instead of what it typically would be $970,000, we did say for this year we could do $1.2 million. Making sure we are putting back into our net assets and investing in our capital moving forward. Next year, we are planning on the $750,000 in the budget and will have to take a look at it. If we do not achieve meal plan sales, we may be asking for that number to come down. If we sale more meal plans, we will be re-evaluating the other way.
- The question was raised regarding if the $1.2 million is the highest direct support to the University in the COVID era. It was stated that $1.2 million is the highest we have contributed.
- The question was raised if the direct support figure of $750,000 for next year is conservative budgeting or wait and see. It was stated wait and see.
- The question was raised if the 85% increase in student employment is a fix to the decrease in BASC employees during COVID. It was stated that after COVID, we were able to bring our full-time staff back up to fully employed for the most part. We did a great job in recruiting and bringing our full-time staff back. Where student staff was a little bit more sluggish. We have increased 80% from last year to this year and hoping to go up another 35% for next year. We were also able to increase our part-time staff. In talking to students, I believe about 25% of our students will not be returning next year due to graduating or finding a different job. So we have some work to do to recruit students, but we are in a better place then we were at the start of last year.
DIFR Budget Presentation
Mr. Bigelow and Mr. O’Connor provided a presentation on the DIFR budget. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:
- Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
- The question was raised regarding on what the proportion of students living in the residential halls are juniors and seniors and what magnitude is the shift in the increase of juniors and seniors living on campus. In the cycles we have looked at 30% of juniors were living on campus so we started pushing singles. This may be the driving force behind the increase from 1 in 3 juniors to 2 in 3 juniors living on campus. The senior number was 1 in 4 living on campus and that has increased to 50%. The population has increased so that may be another factor. Also, families are much more involved in guiding their student’s decision and we do have a time period where during COVID a lot of families were turned off of private and off campus housing because of funding. When the universities were able to refund money or credit accounts, a lot of those apartments in the village were not giving money back and people do not forget that. They don’t forget that they lost money in those transactions. We are looking at whether it is our service, the culture or the singles that are keeping students. There are many variables but the one thing that we do see is that the students self-reporting to campus is up over the three years that I have been here.
- The question was raised regarding what number is full capacity in the dorms. It was stated that as we were designed, we can fit 3,005 beds. There are options to shift capacity by making some singles into doubles and there is the option of triples, but triples are not the option we would like to do.
Additional Items from the Committee
None at this time.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:29a.m.