Lost in red tape

ASMSU still compiling receipts from leadership retreat held about two months ago; officials conflicted in past few months on how much spent, still calculating cost

By Zane McMillin (Last updated: 11/05/09 11:35pm)

Almost two months after a leadership planning retreat, MSU’s undergraduate student government still is unclear about how it spent about $8,328.92 for the trip. And only this week did ASMSU release that it spent that amount. Members previously said they budgeted $4,000 for the excursion, but said that figure was miscommunicated and doesn’t represent the entire approved amount.

Adding to the confusion, members of ASMSU said they still don’t have all the receipts for the trip, so they can’t know its true cost. This week’s almost $8,000 estimate is just that, not a final number. Various estimates for the trip have been offered since its conclusion, the most definitive being about $7,200 after officials said they spent about 20 cents per undergraduate student.

Although the government said it still is calculating costs, an employee at Crystal Mountain Resort, where 50 ASMSU members stayed, said its accounting office reported ASMSU was sent two bills in early October. ASMSU members denied receiving the bills and said they called the resort this week to confirm all expenses before the invoices are sent out.

The confusion among ASMSU members about how much was spent on the trip and the prolonged period to calculate the costs has been going on for months. The group hopes to have a full breakdown of the trip’s costs by next week, but said those specific numbers would not be made available to the public. In the group’s financial code, it states those very documents could be presented upon request from a taxpaying member of ASMSU. The group is funded by a semesterly $16.75 tax on all undergraduate students.

Check please

Responding to requests made by The State News for copies of invoices the group received regarding the retreat, ASMSU officials said they had not yet been billed by Crystal Mountain Resort near Manistee, Mich.

However, Karen Babcock, an employee in the resort’s group sales office, said the resort’s accounting office showed two bills had been sent to the organization. One was sent Oct. 6 and another Oct. 9. The second bill was sent because the resort hadn’t heard anything back on the first, Babcock said.

ASMSU’s Association Director Kara Spencer, who will receive invoices from the resort, said Babcock’s statement is incorrect. She said Babcock is not the resort representative with which the group dealt.

Spencer also said she spoke to a representative at the resort Thursday, who said the group’s account at the venue had been closed Oct. 6 and their invoice printed on both Oct. 29 and Tuesday.

“I had a conversation with them (Wednesday), and it was basically … they wanted to make sure they knew what we’d be getting on the bill,” Spencer said.

Spencer said the delay in billing is because the resort bent the rules for ASMSU by giving them a group rate and moving back the 30-day deadline the government had to lock in a group rate.

“Because of the short time frame, we didn’t have the 30 days,” Spencer said. “(They) wanted to make sure that billing didn’t bill us for attrition costs.”

The $8,000 estimate for the trip is a combination of $4,000 from Student Assembly and about $4,000 from various departments in ASMSU. Student Assembly Chairperson Kyle Dysarz said a retreat planning subcommittee that met this summer offered high-end estimates for how much the trip would cost and eventually agreed it would cost the group a maximum of $10,000.

That breakdown of the trip’s cost is part of the “miscommunication” members said followed the retreat.

Dysarz said the group was well within its bounds to spend money from various departments because all requested expenses were approved through the necessary channels, including the departments’ chairs and the organization’s comptroller, who oversees ASMSU’s finances.

“According to (ASMSU’s Student Assembly Financial Code of Operations), whatever the expense is, it has to be a pre-approved expense through the comptroller.

“Code is being followed (and) the process is being followed,” Dysarz said.

Fuzzy numbers

Even when the group receives all the appropriate receipts for costs associated with the trip, ASMSU spokesperson Portia McKenzie said it will not release line-item details about how the money was spent.

“It’s just not commonplace. It’s not customary,” she said. “We’re not deviating. It went through this entire process of approvals.”

McKenzie said the group is transparent with how student tax dollars are spent because a copy of ASMSU’s budget is available at its offices in Student Services upon request. She said the budget is available for viewing in accordance with the Financial Code of Operations.

However, ASMSU’s financial code also stipulates all of ASMSU’s financial reports and documentation pertaining to the group’s budget are available upon request to taxpaying members. Despite this, McKenzie said the group is well within its rights to withhold specific information.

“We’re required in our code to have the budget available, and that’s exactly what we do,” McKenzie said. “There’s no specifics to say to what degree. We’re not trying to withhold anything. It’s not practiced by businesses; it’s not practiced by us or the university.”

Leading, learning and spending

Dysarz said the more than $8,000 spent on the trip was a low cost compared to the retreat’s outcome and the skills acquired by the trip’s participants. The purpose of the retreat, which took place Sept. 18-20, was to set goals for the upcoming school year and develop leadership skills.

“We thought this was an extremely necessary decision with where we needed to bring this organization in regards to how we function internally and how we function externally,” Dysarz said. “Now we have a vision and a broad road map for not only the rest of this year, but for years to come.”

McKenzie said the group chose to travel to Manistee for the retreat because it was cheaper than local venues, such as the Kellogg Center.

Additionally, she said, leaving East Lansing allowed the group to get away from its usual setting so it could focus on the work to be done.

“The purpose is to get away and take yourself out of your work environment and actually focus on whatever issues are at hand,” McKenzie said. “We were there to handle business. And that’s why we had to go away.”

Dysarz said by isolating the group in Manistee, it allowed the retreat’s attendees to collaborate better. He said not leaving town would have been more detrimental and ultimately more costly.

“I would think by not making an investment in this type of plan (it) is not being as efficient as we possibly can,” Dysarz said.

Students were split on the group’s decision to spend more than $8,000 on a retreat. Mathematics junior Lauren Train said she condoned the retreat and didn’t mind paying the average 23 cents per student ASMSU spent on the trip. She said it was admirable ASMSU undertook the retreat for leadership building purposes.

“I can say that (23 cents) per person is okay,” Train said. “I’m sure there are other things they could have done with it. (They) can have my (23 cents) to go on a retreat.”

But microbiology junior Hannah Bach said she was unsure the group should have spent student tax dollars to go on a retreat, even if the cost was only 23 cents per student.

“I would say it’s not a big deal individually that we’re all paying,” Bach said. “But on the whole, that doesn’t really seem like a good use of our money.”

Originally Published: 11/05/09 11:05pm