Funding for Stony Brook University’s Hall Councils has changed in order to simplify the process of receiving money and to create a fairer budget for each building on campus.

Hall Councils were previously funded by both the Undergraduate Student Government, or USG, and Residence Hall Association, or RHA, with the majority of money coming from USG. Hall Councils would have to talk to USG to receive money while nothing mandated that the budget was fair for each hall council.

With the change, instead of having to talk to USG to receive money, Hall Councils only has to talk to RHA who will talk to USG for them. While the money is coming from USG as it did previously, RHA will receive the money first and is now “the middleman” as Frank Fanizza, RHA President, said.

“They’re handing us the money to take of it so their budget committee doesn’t have to worry,” Fanizza said. RHA is “willing to take care of it because it will simplify things for 29 buildings.”

Having RHA in control of the budget for the Hall Councils means a fairer and more evenly distributed budget, Fanizza said. The money will be “distributed fairly amongst every student and go by how many students you have per building.” It will also give each hall council a say in where the money goes.

Fanizza said that the new system, which will take effect fall 2011, is “very simple” because it puts allocation requests into one system. The change will not decrease the budget for any hall council while some may receive more money than in previous years.

The initiative to simplify the process of funding for hall councils began last year by former USG Treasurer Moiz Khan and previous RHA President Craig McCarthy. Fanizza was brought on the project by McCarthy as incoming president while former USG Executive Vice President Alexander Dimitriyadi filled in after Khan left his position.

Dimitriyadi and Fanizza are both in favor of the change and Fanizza said he is “very excited” it is happening.

“I think the idea sold itself to all necessary parties,” said Dimitriyadi. “The overall process for this switch was fairly easy” even though it was time-consuming.

Dimitriyadi served as the liaison for USG during the summer meetings that worked out the majority of the issues with the switch. He also wrote the legislation that made the switch official.

Even though the process of receiving money will now be easier for Hall Councils and they will be able to receive money more quickly, this change creates extra work for RHA. In order to handle the change, RHA will be creating a budget committee within their general body membership.

The budget committee will be comprised of one or two residents from each building or quad depending on how many people are interested, Fanizza said.

RHA does not have a set budget for the Hall Councils yet. Fanizza expected to have completed the budget by last Thursday and submitted for review to Jackie Mark, the current treasurer of USG, and the budget committee.

Dimitriyadi called the act that created this change the “most significant act ever passed by the USG” next to the Establishment of Student Life Act, which reformed the Student Activities Board last year. He said he sees future funding decisions having to be made in a similar way.

“The student government needs to cope with over the seemingly endless growth of clubs,” he said. This type of decision “alleviate[s] the logistical nightmare that is the USG budget process.”