MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bernie Goldstein	Administrative Representative, Provost & Chief Academic Officer (present by phone)
Crystal Shrouf	Student Representative
Courtney Pastrick	Student Representative
Eric Carlson	Student Representative, substituting for Joe Latulippe
Callen Kurpinsky	Student Representative
Andy Merrifield	Faculty Representative
Cristin Tuider	Staff Representative
Philip McGough	Faculty Representative

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Mette Adams

Student Representative

GUESTS PRESENT DURING IRA DISCUSSION:

Lia Thompson-Clark	Director of Children's School
Barbara Kay	Co-Chair of Children's School Parent Advisory Board

STAFF PRESENT:

Larry Furukawa-Schlereth	Chief Financial Officer
Katie Pierce	Committee Staff, Academic Affairs Budget Officer

MEETING AGENDA

I. Approval of the Agenda

II. Approval of the Minutes of Meeting 3/30/00

III. Review of IRA Interest Earnings & 6/30/99 Account Balances

IV. Action - IRA Budget Recommendation for 00/01

V. Proposal for Allocation of Financial Aid

VI. Proposal for Parking Fee Increase

VII. Adjourn

MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED

Pre-circulated:

1. Minutes of Meeting 3/30/00

2. President's Response to FAC's 99/00 IRA Recommendations

3. Allocation Letters to IRA-funded Programs for 99/00

At the Meeting:

1. Schedule of Interest Earnings for IRA Accounts 7/1-12/31/99 and Explanation of 6/30/99 balances for selected IRA Accounts (Furukawa-Schlereth)

2. CFO's Recommendations for 00/01 IRA Allocations

3. Documents relating to Proposal for Parking Fee Increase (Furukawa-Schlereth)

4. Memorandum from Associated Students to Provost Goldstein Regarding Proposal for Allocation of Financial Aid Component of ASI Fee (Shrouf)

Pizza and beverages were served. An injury prevented Chair Bernie Goldstein from attending in person but he presided throughout the meeting by use of speaker-phone. Goldstein brought the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m. when a quorum had assembled.

I. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

It was Moved and Seconded and Passed (unanimously), to adopt the Agenda.

II. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF MARCH 30, 2000

It was Moved and Seconded and Passed (unanimously with Eric Carlson abstaining) to approve the minutes of 3/16/99.

III. REVIEW OF IRA INTEREST EARNINGS AND JUNE 30,1999 ACCOUNT BALANCES

In response to request from the Committee at the last meeting Larry Furukawa-Schlereth prepared a statement of interest earnings for IRA accounts for the current fiscal year through December 31, 1999. Based on earnings for the six month period. Furukawa-Schlereth projects the 99/00 total earnings to be about $14,000. Funds are invested in MetWest, a no-risk investment vehicle that conforms to CSU system guidelines.

Crystal Shrouf asked whether it would be possible to consolidate interest earned in IRA accounts into a central pool rather than distributing earnings to the funded projects. Furukawa Schlereth indicated that it is possible to do so further explaining that 99/00 was the first year that interest earnings had been allocated to projects.

The Committee reviewed materials explaining the reasons for 98/99 year end balances in IRA accounts. For the most part balances were reserved to cover expenses incurred but not yet paid due to delays in receiving vendor invoices for goods and services provided near the end of the year. The Committee agreed that the balances were appropriately explained and probably did not indicate that projects had been awarded funding in excess of what is needed to carry out their programs.

IV. IRA BUDGET RECOMMENDATION FOR 00/01

Following discussion of the previous agenda item Shrouf asked if it would be possible to add the $14,000 anticipated interest earnings to the amount available for allocation in 00/01. It was Moved and Seconded to modify the method of interest distribution to have interest earnings accrued to the central IRA unallocated balance rather than to each of the project accounts, and to add that amount to the funding available for allocation. After discussion the motion Passed (Merrifield abstaining). Furukawa-Schlereth will see that the project directors are notified of the change in policy so that they will not count on interest earnings when developing their budgets for coming years.

Shrouf proposed adding $10,000 to the amount recommended by the CFO for allocation to the Children's School. The effect will be to restore to the Children's School the full amount of the shortfall in the 99/00 allocation. The Committee endorsed her suggestion.

The Committee discussed the possibility of funding Project Censored and/or Detour Sonoma, and agreed that, since not all members of the Committee are familiar with those projects and since there had been no proposal process this year, it would not be fair to make additional allocations.

It was Moved, Seconded and Passed (unanimously) to adopt the CFO's recommendations with the addition of $10,000 (for a total of $30,000) to the Children's School.

Carlson and Shrouf expressed their continuing concern regarding the current practice of increasing IRA allocations to Athletics and Center for Performing Arts to cover COLAs.

It was Moved and Seconded to recommend to the President that Athletics and CPA be directed to adopt a strategy in which, through a phased plan over the next four years, IRA funds are no longer used as a source of funding for COLAs. The level of programs and services should remain at least at current levels. The recommendation further stipulates that COLAs in conformance with bargaining unit agreements be supported through revenue sources independent of IRA fee based revenues and general fund sources.

The motion Passed (unanimously with Phil McGough abstaining)

While agreeing with the recommendation in concept, Merrifield registered his concern that the only realistic alternative to IRA funding for COLAs would be the General Fund. The General Fund instructional budget at SSU is so tight that funds would likely come out of support for course sections. It has potential to negatively impact students progress toward graduation, course variety and ratio of permanent to part-time faculty.

Citing his personal experience Carlson spoke about the value of IRA programs in enriching student life.

V. PROPOSAL FOR ALLOCATION OF FINANCIAL AID

Shrouf and Carlson presented a proposal from the Associated Students Board of Directors. The A.S. Board developed the proposal in response to the recent Executive Order 740 which encourages campus Presidents to evaluate the level of existing campus fees and consider reducing fee levels or adjusting fee components. The A.S. proposal requests that the President exercise option three described in the Executive Order to redirect the 1/3 financial aid component to the Associated Students, Inc. Carlson and Shrouf presented rationale for the recommendation including the increasing costs of A.S. operations and program opportunities forgone for lack of funding. They further explained that state-allocated funding for financial aid has been more that sufficient to meet the needs of SSU's eligible students. Under current circumstances, adoption of the A.S. proposal would result in no decrease to financial aid awards for SSU students but would increase the amount of funding available for A.S. operations and programs by approximately $65,000. The Committee acknowledged that if in the future SSU students became eligible for more financial aid than is provided by the state it would be advisable to reexamine the allocation of A.S. fees.

By consensus the Committee requested the Chair to send the proposal forward to the President indicating the FAC's support.

VI. PROPOSAL FOR PARKING FEE INCREASE

To open the discussion Furukawa-Schlereth explained that, because of the lead time necessary to arrange funding and construct parking lots, the university's need for additional parking spaces needs to be anticipated at least two years in advance. He presented a document entitled "Parking and Traffic Challenges Years 2000-2005" which summarizes two challenges for SSU; Parking Capacity due to Growth and North Campus Entrance to Accommodate Growth. Meeting these challenges will require financing and an increase to user fees is proposed to meet that need. Furukawa-Schlereth told the committee that he had presented the issue at the PBAC, VPBAC and CRC as well.

Carlson said that the term "user fee" implies that there is some choice about using the commodity. With that in mind he feels it is important for the campus to be creative and active in developing alternative transportation options. He suggests that campus personnel work with community agencies toward that goal. The group discussed ideas that might present viable alternatives to personal vehicles as well as concepts that might encourage people who live close by to walk or bike to campus. Merrifield cited UC Davis as a model that might offer some ideas for SSU.

Furukawa-Schlereth informed the group about some of the requirements for gaining the approval of employee bargaining units before increasing the parking fees. It is possible that one or more of the bargaining units might reject the proposal. If there is a decision to increase parking fees, Furukawa-Schlereth would recommend it become effective in Spring '01.

It was the consensus of the group that students, faculty, staff and administrators alike should bear the fee increase. They asked the Chair to communicate FAC's support of a community-wide parking fee increase to cover the costs of building new parking facilities and roadways, as well as their recommendation that the university actively promote alternatives to driving and parking on campus.

VII. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, Goldstein adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Katie Pierce,
Academic Affairs Budget Officer