According to Budgetary Committee Chair Livia Angiolillo '04, the problem arose because last semester's student finance committee (SFC) never properly finished its accounting.
"The 'books' were never closed, therefore, many bills were never paid and were outstanding," said Angiolillo. "Part of the problem was due to the fact that the web site was not up-dated and not accurate."
As a result, certain items appeared to have been paid for when they had not been, while other bills were left unpaid even after a check request had been submitted.
"Despite the paperwork that was originally submitted, the former SFC neglected to process the checks, leaving the new budgetary committee with the past semester's work," said Angiolillo. "In total, the budgetary committee has had to address $75,000 in neglected check requests, bills and fees, all without any accurate record to refer to."
On Nov. 9, the budgetary committee received notification that a payment to Turley Publications for $9,763 was overdue, according to Angiolillo. Circus owed $2,987, Prism owed $4,276 and A Further Room owed $2,500.
According to Circus Publisher Marcella Frydman '03, the publication submitted its bill for last semester's publishing costs to the student government organization (SGO) last May.
"It should have been paid at the end of last semester. It's really quite embarrassing for Amherst not to pay its bills this way. We look unprofessional and irresponsible," said Frydman. "Livia has been very responsive … Circus appreciates the hard work of the AAS and particularly Livia in working through this glitch."
According to Frydman, she received notification that the bill had been paid on Monday, so Circus would be able to be published on schedule.
While Circus staff were satisfied with the resolution of the matter, Editor-in-Chief Eva Gladek '05 hopes it does not happen again in the future. "I understand that [the AAS] had problems figuring out where the funds were coming from, but I don't really understand why they didn't start figuring it out earlier," said Gladek.
Becca Corvino '03, editor-in-chief of A Further Room and Prism, also reported receiving notification this week that the publication's bills had not been paid. "We got a late start, so it did not really end up affecting us," said Corvino.
Turley Publications had told Corvino that her publications would probably not be able to incur more debt until the previous ones had been paid.
All checks over $1,000 must be signed by both the AAS Treasurer and the dean of student activities, Sam Haynes. On Monday, Nov. 11, the check to Turley was cut and signed, according to Angiolillo.
"Given all of the complicating factors described above, the check was still cut at the earliest possible moment," said Angiolillo.
Angiolillo also noted that the budgetary committee is carefully examining every request for funding and payment in order to prevent fraudulent and inappropriate expenditures.
"If all of the facts are examined, one will realize that the caution and the care of the budgetary committee is ultimately benefiting the entire Amherst campus," said Angiolillo.