The Student Senate’s Budget and Finance Committee continues to plan next year’s budget, so far coming up with three potential versions, with one to be passed at the last senate meeting of the year in May.

One of the proposals included eliminating the third staff position in student centers, for which money is allocated every year, but which is not always filled. The committee, which includes Chair Omar Buhkari, Vice Chair Jesse Solomon, Vice President Tuan Pham, and Senators Kristina Lopez and Bigyan Acharya, is now exploring ways to keep the third position, such as turning it into a work-study job.

“It does not look like we’re cutting positions,” said President Joseph Panciotti, adding, “But that’s just my opinion.”

Among the centers who have not filled a third position this year are the Advocacy Resource for Modern Survival (ARMS) Center, Student Arts and Events Council (SAEC), and the Student Center for Students With Disabilities.

There are at least three versions of the budget floating around, each with minute differences. “Budget #1,” as it is called, downsizes a payroll of 27 people to 18, not from 18 to 9 as first reported. The number still includes the Harbor Art Gallery Sitter, whose position allows people to come in and see the artwork outside the normal hours of operation. Money is also taken from the student trustee, mostly from the trustee’s discretionary fund, and the Undergraduate Honors Program and student employee benefits line items are eliminated.

“Budget #2” keeps nearly everything except for the Undergraduate Honors Program intact, but results in the budget going over by $21,000.

“Budget #3” is similar to “Budget #1,” but adds the splitting of the Senate’s Network Administrator position into two: Network Administrator and Office Secretary. A line item for a “fee-structure safety net” of about $29,000 is included as well, in case the $44,000 promised to the senate from school administration officials doesn’t come through.

Confusion earlier in the week over whether or not money meant to plug a $44K hole in the Student Activities Trust Fund would come led several senators to make calls to the Dean of Student Affairs’ Office, but by the end of the week it was definite that the money would be there.

The deficit is a result of the university switching from a two-tiered system of paying fees (where fees were paid on a part-time and full-time student basis) to a more “proportional” system, where students are charged an average per credit fee. In early February, the Senate contemplated raising the Student Activities Fee 20%, or 12 dollars, but the motion was eventually voted down.

The budget is still in its early stages in committee. It is scheduled to go before the senate at the second to last meeting of the semester, then it will be sent back to Budget and Finance, before finally going back to the full senate at its last meeting.