ASDVC is unsure whether a $28,000 inconsistency in its reserve budget is an accounting error or not.
The issue first came to light in the fall when officers learned of a discrepancy between ASDVC account statements and the bank account statements. ASDVC is also currently facing a $20,000 deficit in its operations account that covers student activities and services.
When asked about whether the discrepancy was a management issue or an accounting issue, ASDVC Controller Chelsea Cheung said, ” There are too many uncertainties to make a judgment.”
Progress on the issue has been moving at a slow pace. Account statements from November and December were provided to ASDVC Feb. 1, though no accounting error was noted on them.
Associate Chancellor of Finance Sierra Muindi, who was in charge of the accounts at the district, resigned recently, further delaying action. Cheung said the district was having trouble communicating with ASDVC because of the resignation.
Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services Kindred Murillo is currently overseeing the discrepancy at the district. “I was unaware of any communication problems with ASDVC,” Murillo said in a phone interview.
Murillo believes the district has gotten to the bottom of the discrepancy and will be speaking with ASDVC on March 1 on the issue. “I believe it is an accounting issue and there is no reason to believe in any mismanagement of funds.”
At the beginning of the school year, ASDVC had a projected operations budget of $72,000. Sticker sales from students account for most of the operations budget.
But, since the fall semester, sticker sales have steadily declined. In the month of January alone, ASDVC brought in only $1,800 from the sales, significantly less than last semester.
The money might be hard to make up through sticker sales at $8 a sticker and ASDVC has already dipped into their reserve fund to cover costs.
The book rental program is believed by ASDVC to have further discouraged sticker sales, said Cheung, as many students have opted to rent books and stickers provide no discount for rentals.
If the issue doesn’t change, “it will not be a healthy situation for next year,” Cheung said.
ASDVC Advisor Yvonne Canada fears additional staffing cuts in Student Life if the budget doesn’t change. “It’s not sustainable,” said Canada. ASDVC is already using $79,000 dollars of its reserve funds of approximately $180,000 to support two part-time faculty positions for ASDVC.
ASDVC observed in its first session back this semester that the sticker sales had dropped by 60 percent. At that time 57 percent of the budget had already been approved.
Cheung admitted their projections of a $72,000 to be “overly optimistic.” When asked where ASDVC was going to come up with the money to cover the deficit and the proposed operations budget, Cheung said “sticker sales.”
“I don’t think so “, Canada replied when asked if it was reasonable for ASDVC to believe it could make the money from sticker sales alone. “We have to reevaluate the budget and consider cuts.”
The budget for next semester was supposed to have been created Feb. 23, but has been delayed by a scheduled meeting March 1 with the district to discuss the reserve funds discrepancy.
