The Government of the Student Body will vote Wednesday on whether it will allocate $14,458.33 to the Sports Club Council for capital equipment.

Of the 42 sports clubs that went through the council’s budget, seven are included in the senate bill Sports Club Capital Equipment: ISU Paintball Club, Iowa State Baseball Club, ISU Boxing Club, ISU Canoe & Kayak Club, ISU Taekwondo Club/Karate, ISU Judo Club and ISU Motocross Club.

Vice President of Sports Club Council and ISU Baseball Club Jim Smaga, senior in sociology, Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the reason items for these six groups were pulled from the council’s budget was because they thought they were the best items to fit GSB accounts.

Smaga, who is also a GSB inter fraternity council senator, said the council had $205,000 in requests for the budget for the fiscal year 2010 and had to trim the budget to meet the $150,000 GSB will allocate through regular allocations. Essentially, the council has $150,000 to divide between the sports clubs. The clubs are responsible for receiving any additional funding through means such as fundraising, GSB or donations.

The economy was theme of the council’s budget meetings, Smaga said. But he wasn’t surprised by the cuts; he said GSB has needed to cut funding for multiple student organizations.

“The GSB finance committee had a 12-hour meeting to cut $80,000 from student groups,” he said.

Smaga said the council is taking a risk by pulling these capital items from its budget and creating a bill.

GSB finance director Tom Danielson, senior in civil engineering, said this is the first time since fiscal year 2008 that a request like this has been made.

“In regulars for fiscal year 2008 the GSB finance committee pulled all capital items of both GSB and the council groups and funded them through a separate capital projects bill,” he said.

Danielson said this was at the request of the finance committee, not at the request of the council.

“The council has never brought a request of this nature on its own accord to GSB.”

Smaga said it is important the bill passes at Wednesday’s meeting.

“A lot of clubs need these capital items,” he said. “We need catcher’s gear, helmets, bats — and we need these things now.”

If the bill is not passed, the clubs can either fundraise or request that the items are in next year’s budget.

In the case of the latter, though, the clubs wouldn’t be allocated any of the funds until August, Smaga said.

He also said he doesn’t know whether the baseball club would be able to fundraise any more than they already have.

In the case the bill fails, the baseball club will likely use old equipment, which has potential to become a safety hazard in the near future, Smaga said.

“I think this bill is a great use of capital projects funding, with a few exceptions,” Danielson said.

He said capital items are typically those that last for more than three years and are integral to a group’s mission.

“I think most of these items would fit those criteria and would be a perfect use of capital projects money,” Danielson said.

He added that every capital item in the bill would benefit the entire groups membership, as well as any students who participate in the events these groups host.

Clubs asking for capital projects money:

ISU Paintball Club

Iowa State Baseball Club

ISU Boxing Club

ISU Canoe & Kayak Club

ISU Taekwondo Club/Karate

ISU Judo Club

ISU Motocross Club