The Undergraduate Council may raise your taxes by 50 percent.

This Sunday, the council will vote on three changes to its constitution and by-laws--including a $10 hike in your $20 term bill fee-that could dramatically expand its role on campus.

Or waste student money and time.

Is the increase warranted?

Many council members view a raise in the term-bill fee as necessary for expanding the council's role. They say the council has worked well this year but needs more money to maintain the same level of services.

"We won't be able to do the same things next year that we were able to do this year," says Vice President Joshua D. Liston '95. "Unless we have the term-bill increase."

Opponents of the increase say the council has not shown it can consistently and successfully spend the money it already has.

Opponents add that there are plenty of other ways--including internal restructuring--that would enable the council to find extra dollars.

The Proposal

The most significant of the three changes to be considered this week end would raise the fee on student term-bills from $20 to $30, swelling the council's annual budget from $120,000 to approximately $180,000. If enacted, this change would also require the approval of the Faculty Council.

The proposal could prove controversial alone, but it has been carefully packaged as part of a larger effort to restructure the way the council bud gets its money.

If the budget package passes this Sunday, thecouncil will more than double the amount it spendson student affairs and campus life projects from$30,000 to $72,000. The package would boost thefraction of the budget devoted to student servicesfrom 25 to 40 percent (see graphic, thispage).

The package would also drop the portion of thebudget earmarked for grants from 60 to 50 percent.Despite the percentage decrease, the larger budgetwould increase the council's grants spending byapproximately $18,000 annually.

The modest increase in funding for grants wouldallow the council more leeway in dispensing money,says Jay J. Kim '95, chair of the financecommittee and a Crimson editor.

Last semester, the council budgeted $41,000 forgrants. But Kim says the finance committeereceived between $120,000 and $150,000 inrequests.

"If the finance committee had more money, we'dbe able to be a little more liberal and a littlemore generous," Kim says.