Student Government officials disagreed Thursday on Student Body President Bobby Mills’ use of student fee money and the approval needed for using it.
According to an e-mail Mills, a junior in political science, sent, he reserved 40 seats in Fountain Dining Hall for a dinner with executive branch members for Jan. 16.
He sent an e-mail to Student Senate President Greg Doucette Wednesday, telling Doucette, a senior in computer science, that he would use Student Government’s Financial Accounting System account to pay for the dinners, but Doucette said this could not be done without the approval of David Foxx, student body treasurer and senior in political science.
Mills said he did not spend more than $150, so he did not need to gain Foxx’s approval. Although in an earlier interview Foxx said that an expense of $150 or more would need his approval, he later agreed with Doucette and said he should approve of any amount of spending before it happens.
“You can’t have people spending money without any kind of oversight,” Foxx said.
Statute 5-1.3 of the N.C. State Student Body Statutes states that the treasurer has the “general authority to determine if any proposed expenditure is permissible and a proper use of the Student Body Funds.”
Most of the people who came to the dinner had University meal plans, Mills said, so he said he only had to pay for 13 peoples’ meals.
And Mills said he had “no idea” how much he spent on the meals, but said, “I know it’s less than $150.”
According to Doucette, Mills has two sources from which to get money: the office supplies line item, which Doucette said should be almost empty from payments for office supplies, and the executive branch line item, which he said could have been used but would still require approval.
“[Mills] has referred to the office supplies line item [in the e-mail], but I think he was referring to his executive brach line item,” Doucette said.
Doucette also said he and Mills have AllCampus cards which they can use to pay for as many other meals as they want, including in a situation such as this.
“That’s what I do when I take students to dinner,” he said.
This could have been a time when Mills was trying to help supporters, or an administrator may have made a decision in the spending, according to Doucette.
“My hope is that this is a misunderstanding and everything will be just fine,” Doucette said. “If not, I’m just going to be pissed.”
Mills said he did not have records of his spending, and according to Doucette, expense reports will not be available until the end of the month.
