The Student Recreation Center, the University Board and the student government face a 6 percent budget cut because of the enrollment decrease of about 450 students.

The budget allocation for the three boards is determined by the Apportionment Board, which had its first meeting of the semester Thursday.

Mary Lane, the student vice president for business affairs, said the three boards will need to present a plan of action to cut 6 percent on Nov. 3 at the next AB meeting.

Ken Baker, the director of the Rec Center, said they are planning different methods to cut about $13,200, which is 6 percent of their budget.

“We have seen this coming for the last three years because enrollment has been on the decline and we know that the Apportionment Board allocations are fee driven,” Baker said. “It is our job to live within the budget we are given.”

Baker said one way they try to save money is by trading in old equipment or reducing student payroll by not hiring staff members.

“Using these methods, we were able to return about 5 percent to the AB last year,” Baker said.

Brad Saribekian, a senior management major and member of the AB, said he thought cutting 6 percent was a necessary evil.

“It is our job to seek student input and make sure what we approve is what students want approved since it is paid with their student fees,” Saribekian said. “We are asking the boards to withhold 6 percent, and I think it should be achievable since we knew a hit was coming from enrollment.”

Student Body President Ed Hotwagner, a senior mathematics major, said two aspects of the student government’s budget that he doesn’t want to cut are the Student Action Team’s lobby trip to Springfield and the Illinois Board of Higher Education meetings.

“Things that will have to be looked at in our budget include our spending money with marketing, and we may need to start looking into cosponsoring events with other organizations,” Hotwagner said.

He said some organizations they may cosponsor events with could be the Black Student Union, EIU PRIDE, the Latin American Student Organization and different Greek organizations.

“These organizations make up a large portion of campus, so it wouldn’t hurt for student government to reach out to them to help fund events and have additional involvement,” Hotwagner said.

During the meeting, Lane made a presentation on the basic functions and mechanics of how the AB operates, including researching topics presented to the board and determining that student activity fees are used to provide entertaining and recreational programs.

“They only have about four months before they decide the budgets, so I think it is good that they are getting started and getting a good idea of what’s going on before it hits them like a ton of bricks,” Hotwagner said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].