IV.B. Budgets

IV.A.1. GENERAL INFORMATION

1.01 The previous year’s inflation figure is to be used to develop the preliminary budget.

1.02 Budgeted expenses made in the areas supervised by the President need not be approved individually by the Board, but are subject to the President’s approval. The Board may be asked to approve an expense if the President does not.

IV.A.2. FURNITURE BUDGETS

2.01 Newly purchased units shall receive a full BSC furniture budget for any furniture that is purchased at the time the unit is acquired. The graduated budget shall be 20% of the furniture budget in the 2nd year, 40% in the 3rd year, 60% the 4th year, 80% the 5th year and 100% thereafter.

2.02 To determine the proportion of “new furniture” to “existing furniture” when acquiring new units, determine the cost of providing new furniture for 100% of the house’s membership and subtract from that figure the actual cost of providing furniture (excluding commons furniture). This will yield the ratio of new furniture to existing furniture in present furniture values. “Existing furniture” gets a full 10% share, while “new furniture” gets a graduated budget.

2.03 Furniture budget depreciation will be re-appraised such that the depreciation figure will be no less than 10% of the replacement value of the existing furniture.

2.04 Apartment furniture budgets shall be dealt with in the same manner as it is for room and board houses (subject to current policy). This will include refrigerators, stoves, lamps, and kitchen tables.

2.05 10% of the replacement value of present BSC furnishings should be budgeted each year. Houses may replace their furniture at the rate of 10%/yr. If a house requests furniture which is more expensive than standard C.O. offerings, the house must assume the difference in cost.

2.07 Houses may buy furniture from sources other than Central Office if the Operations Manager or designee approves the purchase. The house is entitled to reimbursement up to the stock price of the item through Central Office.

2.08 In the event that a house should have surplus funds left in its furniture budget Spring semester, the house shall have the option of setting aside up to 50% of the surplus for Discretionary Capital Improvements, provided that this amount does not exceed 25% of the original furniture budget for the year. Items purchased must be capital items, but may be items that are not otherwise purchased with capital funds (e.g. washers). In the event a house does not indicate that it wishes to set aside surplus funds for DCIs, those surplus funds shall become part of the next year’s furniture budget.

2.09 Houses shall receive a 10% credit to the furniture budget for any standard issue furniture turned in to C.O. that is recyclable. If the furniture is in good condition and has no missing parts, then full credit shall be given that is equal to the current price for recycled furniture. The cost of recycled furniture will equal labor plus materials divided by the quantity of furniture recycled that year.

2.10 Small appliances depreciate over three to five years based on the expected life of the appliance. The expected lives of appliance types are determined by warehouse staff. If an appliance breaks before its life is up, the house can replace it immediately out of the furniture budget.

IV.A.3 BUYING HOUSES

3.01 The Board allows the Executive Director and staff to do a reasonable amount of research on prospective houses. If the houses meet a minimum criterion as a possible Co-op house, it would be referred first to Capital Affairs Committee, and if after going through the previous filters, it is found to be a good idea, it would go to the Board.

3.02 All reports to the Board of Directors concerning the prospective purchase of a house shall include approximate cost, size, condition, and location with respect to campus.

IV.A.4 CHARITABLE DONATIONS

4.01 Charitable donations may only be given to non-profit organizations not affiliated with the BSC (the BSC can give money to other co-ops).

4.02 Solicitations may be sponsored by a member, a house/apartment, or a charity.

4.03 All requests for charitable donations shall be directed to Cabinet. Cabinet shall use the following guidelines to determine if the request should go to Board:

4.04 The BSC shall not donate more than $2000 per fiscal year.

IV.A.5. MAINTENANCE BUDGETS

5.01 Maintenance budgets will be separated from other decentralized budgets and may only be spent on maintenance items.

5.02 Emergency capital improvements funds shall be 10% of the available capital improvements funds.

5.03 New houses shall be charged the BSC average per capita maintenance costs for the first two quarters. The maintenance costs shall be decentralized thereafter.

5.04 Houses may use 50% of their previous year’s maintenance budget surplus (as long as it doesn’t exceed 25% of the previous year’s allocation) for Discretionary Capital Improvements. Requests for D.C.I. expenditures from the Maintenance Budget surplus must be submitted for the Executive Director’s approval.

5.05 Any house may use its Capital Repair budget (at the discretion of the Executive Director and Central Maintenance Coordinator) to purchase carpets, contractual furniture and commons area furniture—with the exception of any other item which would otherwise only be described as a discretionary capital improvement item (DCI)—so long as its house furniture budget is completely depleted.

IV.A.6. VENDING MACHINES

6.01 No BSC Member may earn a profit by operating a vending machine or game machine in a BSC unit.

IV.A.7. PERSONAL INSURANCE

7.01 Personal property insurance information shall be offered to houses.

IV.A.8. EARTHQUAKE CACHE FUNDING (12/07 BOD approved, 3/20/08 revised)

The BSC has agreed to participate in the Alameda county Emergency Earthquake Cache Program.

8.01 $1 per member per semester charged to be part of local earthquake cache program