The Inter-Residence Hall Association will face significant budget cuts in the coming year, though officials believe they will not adversely affect services the association provides.

The budget proposed by the IRHA finance committee for the 2004-05 academic year is $14,000 less than it was this year, said Carl Carlson, IRHA director of finance and senior in computer engineering.

The decrease is necessary because of a decrease in the number of residence hall students in the current year, Carlson said.

“There were a lot less residence hall students, and we weren’t expecting it,” he said.

John Shertzer, IRHA adviser and residence life coordinator, said the IRHA finance committee saw a need for a budget cut and found a way to make it work that would have the least effect on students.

Carlson said when the budget was made last year, planners anticipated 1,000 more students living in the residence halls than are actually living there.

The finance committee was able to work with the numbers and analyze the current IRHA programs so it won’t create too many problems, he said.

“No one really suffered this year from decreased budget cuts,” he said.

Most will be made up by cut funding of the Free Friday Flicks program, which currently has a budget of $17,000, he said.

Free Friday Flicks will continue with reserve money saved this year, Carlson said.

Richardson Court Association, Union Drive Association and Towers Residence Association will all see a decrease in their funding next year, he said.

Funds were also cut from the director of special events and the discretionary account, Carlson said.

“We may see more dramatic problems if we don’t get more students in the residence halls,” he said.

Although IRHA will have less money to work with next year, Carlson said he was still able to reduce residence hall student fees.

IRHA usually collects $10 per residence hall student to cover the cost of the readership program on campus that supplies students with newspapers, he said.

When Carlson realized IRHA only paid out $8 per student this year for the program, he was able to lower the fee.

“I was really happy able to reduce spending without having to tighten belts that much, and was able to charge less money to students,” he said.

Autumn Hare, director of special events and junior in psychology, said the budget cuts are necessary and she supports the decisions that have been made.

If necessary, the special events committee could ask for additional funding with the hopes of being supported by the parliament and the constituents, she said.

“I think that we learned a lot this year about the things we did for special events,” she said. “Even with the budget cuts, they will be able to work within the budget given next year.”