1979_02 The Daily Collegian February 1979

              —X
Business Office suggestion snowballs out of porportion
By CAROLYN VAN SCHAIK
Daily Callegian Associate Editor/News
Reacting to an apparent' rumor, the
Budget Committee this week pounced
on the Business Office for supposedly
suggesting that at least oner position
could be 'saved' by centralizing all
budgetary work Iri the Business Office
But' there was confusion among
committee members over Just exactly
. what the Business Office was propos¬
ing. Assistant Director of Business
Affairs Paul Bissonnette had said that
a potential full time and one part time
position could be saved in the Academ¬
ic Office by-eliminating duplicate re¬
cord-keeping between that office and
the Business Office, and some comm¬
ittee members interpreted that to mean
a direct challenge to the position of the
Academic Budget Advisor, Mr. Bill
Coughran.
In an intense. exchange between
Bissonnette and committee member
Dr. Phil Beach, the latter expressed
particular concern over his feeling that
Coughran's position as Budget Officer.
Beach stated that Coughran's exper¬
tise was needed to make knowledgable
allocation decisions.
•Werte fgnorant,* he said. "We
need somebody in our corner,*
When Bissonnette reiterated the
Business Office's willingness to ans¬
wer any questions, Beach shot back
with 'That's the problem in a nutshell.
We don't always know what questions
to ask for (answers to).'
A 'landlord enrichment act?
When questioned directly if Cough¬
ran's position was in jeopardy, Bisson¬
nette replied forcefully that "No, that
was never the intent," and that he was
"flabbergasted" that such, a suggest¬
ion had made its way beyond the pri¬
vate work meeting where the origi¬
nal Business Office proposal had been
suggested
"It has snowballed into a much great¬
er concept than what was anticipated or
Intended to be,"he said, clearly sur¬
prised by the committee's reaction.
He referred to.the proposal only as a
"facilitator of the process (of budget¬
ary work); and insisted that the dele¬
tion of a specific position was not the
objective of the Business Office's sug¬
gestion.
Currently, the Office of the Aca¬
demic Vice President makes the Ins¬
tructional budget allocations, which are
then sent to the appropriate depart¬
ments. The-Business Office, which
handles the non-instructional budget,
does not get a copy of the instruetjonai
budget allocations until after they have
been sent to the departments, and it is
this delay that prompted the sug¬
gestion of centralization. ■
According to Bissonnette, Vice Pres¬
ident for Academic Affairs Dr. Louis
Volpp had estimated that aproximately
one and a half positions In the
Academic Office were involved in Bud¬
getary matters. The change would
eliminate duplicate record-keeping in
the Adademic Office by having that
office send instructional allocations
directly to the Business Office, which
would then send the standard budget
J
Prop. 13, rent hikes prove boon to landlords
ByBRUCESCOTT
Although Fresno landlords received
an average reduction in their property
taxes last year of 55 percent as trie re¬
sult of Proposition 13, fewer than one
percent of their tenants reported a de¬
crease in their rents, according to a
report delivered to the City Council
Tuesday by two CSUF psychology stu¬
dents.
'I think Proposition 13 will go down
in history as a 'landlord enrichment
act',' said Councilman Elvin Bell.
(Several council members appeared
to be in agreement with Bell, but the
only action they took as a result of the
study was to ask the city manager to" in¬
vest igate the operation of the 'renter' s
hot-line' in San Francisco.
The two students primarily responsi¬
ble for the report, Terry Armstrong and
Paul Thompson, had suggested the es¬
tablishment of a 'renter's hot-line' as
one way of responding to the problems
of Fresno renters.
Two-thirds of the 142 renters Arm¬
strong and Thompson surveyed repor¬
ted that their rents remained the same
in 1978, while 29 percent reported that
their rents increased.
City-wide Kent Hikes
Averaged $17 per Month
With the aid of instructor Joel Cross-
man and several psychology graduate
students, Armstrong and Thompson in¬
terviewed two tenants in each of 72
apartment complexes, selected at ran¬
dom from the 460 to be found in Fres¬
no. The students surveyed 15 percent
of the small (8-17 units), medium (18-
50 units), and large (51 or more units)
complexes in the city. Mobile home
parks were excluded from the study.
The tenant interviews, conducted in
December 1978 and January 1979, re¬
vealed that the three council districts
monthly rental increases were Bullard
($28.02), Fresno ($21.67) and Roosevelt
($18.50).
The survey, further revealed that the
tenants fn two of these three districts
-Fresno and Roosevelt-were least able
to afford the increases. The average an¬
nual household income in the Fresno
district is $8,750, the study revealed.
while in the Roosevelt district, it is
.$8,500. The average annual household
income citywide is $10,334, and in the
Bullard district Is $15,131.
The survey showed that, citywide,
the. average monthly increase among
those who received rent hikes was $17.
trong and Thompson examined
on all of the complexes they
ing to the study, only five percent of the
Edison tenants surveyed reported rent
increases, averaging $10 per month. In
the Roosevelt district, 70 percent of the
renters reported increases, averaging
$18.50 per month
llordV'TaV
Surpassed
Owners of large rental complexes
who raised their rents in 1978 increased
their yearly income an average of near¬
ly $28,000-or a 12.7 percent increase
COMPLEX SIZE
Large
Medium
Small
Average Number
ofUnits
88.2
29.57
11.88
Average, Annual Tax
Reduction/Unit
$149.29
$187.76
$152.76
Average Annual Rent
Increase/Unit
$165.80
$225.00
$237.12
Average Annua 1 Tax
Reduction/Complex
$13,167
$5,552
$1,815
Average Annual Rent
Increase/Complex
S14,6S9v
$6,653.
$2,817
Note: Large = e-17 units; medium = 18-50 units, large =51 +
Owners of large complexes (aver¬
aging 88.2 units per complex) re¬
ceived an average tax-cut of $13,167
per complex-and those, who raised
their rents received aft additional
$14,659 income per complex, on the
Owners of rnedUmvslzed complexes
received a tax reduction that amounted
to an average of $187.76 per unft-^    ' ¥
and  those  who  raised  their   rents
received, on the average, an additional "~\
$225.
If the tax savings were to be con¬
sidered income, then owners of large-
sized complexes (such as Meadowood)
would have made an average of
$314.09 more per apartment last year I
than in 1977. ?
Tenants Favor * Hot-Line '
of. Proposition 13 on the landlords'
taxes. They found:
it There was an average tax savings
of $163.27 per unit im978.   .
ifrThere was an overall 55 percent
property tax reduction in 1978 as a re¬
sult of Proposition 13.     .    -^
■ * Property tax reductions by district
revealed that there were significantly
greater savings (averaging $213.22 per
unit) in City Council District Two (Bul-
llard) than in the other five districts.
*r Owners of medium-sized com¬
plexes benefited the most from Prop. .
13, saving an average     of $18776 per
Tenants least hit by rent'increases
were those who lived in the Edison dis¬
trict, while those mose affected were'
those in the Roosevelt district. Accord-
in income per apartment-according to
the study.
Owners of medium and small com¬
plexes who raised their rents last year
increased their yearly income by ap¬
proximately $12,200 and $3,600 per
complex, respectively, the study noted.
Owners of medium-sized complexes
who raised their rent in 1978 realized
an average per unit increase in Income
of 15.96 percent. Owners of small-sized .
unit by an average of 18.77 percent.
These increases,* Armstrong and
Thompson pointed out, 'are clearly
in excess of 1978 overall inflation
and the President's seven percent
wage increase celling.'
An overwhelming percentage of the
tenants surveyed by Armstrong and
Thompson stated they believed some
action was necessary to protect them
from recent and pending rental in¬
creases. City-wide, 82 percent of the
tenants surveyed stated they desired
remedial action.
Armstrong and Thompson provided
tenants who desired action with
six alternatives (listed below, with the
percentage ofjcesporidants who favorea.
that course of action): j
*Ftent Control-which would
require landlords to petition for a
rent increase (favored by 25 percent
of the respondanfs); ' f -
ftRent Rollback-which would
return ^rental rates to the- May 1*Jm
level (favored by 20 percent);
*Rent Moratorium-e freezing
.of rental rates while long-term solu¬
tions would be sought .(35 percent in
favor);
fcRent Reduction-(48 percent fir
favor);
*r*Hot44ne*-which : would' utiWe
an    ombudsman-like    approach    to
solve renter's,problems (72 percent .
in favor);   h
* Board of.Crievances-which would
A SecPagef
An American in Iran
Author takes part in Islamic demonstrations
If anyone knows what it has been like
in Iran the last few months, Don Luce
does
Luce returned from Iran January 22-
just one day before the exits from-the
country were virtually closed off - and
was at CSUF Tuesday sharing experi-
• ences of hfs vast travels.
Luce, an author and international
representative of Clergy and Laity Con¬
cerned, explained what it was like in
Iran when he left.
■ I got a very different kind of feeling
than most people who have been there
as journalists,' he said. I didn't find
tremendous amounts of anger directed
toward me as an American.
*l stayed, with Iranian families. I
travelled on the.bus. I marched In the
demonstrations. Nobody beat me up
and I certainly left feeling very, very
good about Iran.
The anger (of the people) has not
been directed toward Americans but
rather toward American policy.'
Luce feels that President Carter mis-
judgedthe angef of the Iranian people
during his trip there jn January, 1978.
*l would argue that President Carter
was very much aware of the anger
amongst the Iranian people. What he
misjudged was the depth of the opposi¬
tion to the Shah He felt that by going
Study abroad
A world of opportunities
Students interested in any kind of
foreign study or travel should make a
point this week to visit CSUF's Inter¬
national Student Counseling Office in
the Joyal Administration Building.
For anyone interested in studying at
a foreign university, learning another
language and experiencing a different
culture, several excellent opportunities
are still available.
Although the off ice can help students
in a number of ways concerning travel¬
ing, working, and studying abroad,
Rita Bawanan, a Study Abroad Ad¬
visor, feels that the study abroad pro¬
gram, sponsored by the CSUC system,
off ers the most to a student.
'In my opinion it's the most advan¬
tageous (program) because you're
registered in both universities, your
credits are transferrable, and scholar¬
ships are applicable to the fees," she
Ms. Bawanan, an alumnus of the
program, studied in Mexico City in
1974-75.
The program is available to any
CSUC student with a 2.75 CPA or
better,  and  !
(FrarKxj>Cermany, I
Spairyfl Squire two
level iBdy of the
of  the  countries
,, Mexico, Peru, end
two years of college
the language or the
equivalent.
The cost of the program .is about the
same as living and studying at the
home campus, ranging from about
$4,000 to $6,000, depending on the
country. Students are placed with host
families or are.housed in dormitories.
Although some" of the programs are
dosed now, prospects still took good tor
acceptance in the programs in Den¬
mark and Taiwan.  .
Other information on summer pro-.,
grams, overseas travel and work oppor¬
tunities are available at the office.
Students may also purchase in Inter¬
national Student ID which entitles the
holder to many discounts on air, train,
artd boat travel, hotels, museums, and
restaurants throughout Europe.
Anyone interested in any of these '
programs should contact the  Inter¬
national Student office at ext. 2782 or
stop by at the JoyaS .Administration
Building.
Raintree Now Presents
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•on
to Iran and saying that the Shah repre¬
sented an island of stability, he was
hoping that he could help to strengthen
the Shah. He Just misjudged how angry
the people were.*
In one Iranian city, in which Luce
witnessed some of the anger toward the
Shah-and his government, rewards
were set up for finding the houses of
policemen and officers. j'
'Children would run around^ooking
for the houses. They would get $15 for
a policeman's house and $20 for an
officer's house. S^f.
Then the people would attack the
houses,* he said.   -
Luce also explained the system that
was used to escape the police.
"All the alleyways were marked with
little signs that would say, 'dead end
street.' If you were being chased you
would never run down those streets
and get caught,' he said.
'Other alleys had arrows showing
which way to go to get away from the
police. On top of the buildings they had
stones so if police chased you down one
of these alleys, there would be kids on
top throwing the-stones at the police,'
hesaid.    |   "       - •
Luce explained that the Shah had no
controL over the armed forces toward
the end of his regime and that this was
especially evident die day the Shah left
„iln tJ	
* came running in shouting, 'the Shah is
gone, the Shah is gone.'
Then we all ran .over to where a
statue of the Shah was and about
80,000 people had gathered around the
statue trying to figure out how to tear ,
itdown.
i The police, were still there in,the
third Story of a nearby building with a
machine gun 'mounted.
Then an order came that the army
would guard the statue,'he said.
'(After the soldiers arrived) some
people started Jeering and then other
' people would go up to the crowd and
say, 'don't yell at the soldiers, the
soldiers are our brothers'.
•While this was happening, some
people were giving the soldiers bookies
and candy. They were hugging- the
soldiers and putting flowers in the
barrels of the guns.
There was just a really warm feeling
between the soldiers and the people,'
Luce said.
Luce explained that at 1 a.m. the
See Page 12
t*~
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WITH THE
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