The Budgets

Undoubtedly, the house committees are dealing with a lot of money.

Eliot House, for instance, runs on a budget of $20,000 to $24,000 a year, according to Connie K. Chung '97, co-chair of the Eliot House Committee.

Some houses set annual budgets during their September meetings.

House committee officials say their budgets and dues systems are based on the practices of previous years' committees.

"It's tradition," says Matthew L. Ware '97, co-chair of Lowell House Committee. "We've just sort of inherited the structure."

"The budget as a whole is determined largely by looking at past year's records, and listening to the needs of Eliot residents," Chung wrote in an e-mail message. "We've managed to save/accumulate some money over the years."

Other house committees, though, do not have a formal budget.

"We just use [the money earned during the year] for the formal and other events," says Susan deRoberts '97, co-chair of the Mather House Committee. "We usually lose money on the formal."

Even decisions about how money is spent are different from house to house. In some houses, the committee members determine allocations.

In Leverett, for instance, voting is limited to the seven house committee members, according to chair Russel G. Perkins '97.

In others, including Winthrop and Eliot, all house residents can attend committee meetings and vote on the issues. Winthrop allows any resident who has attended three meetings to vote.

Eliot House residents recently rejected a proposal to limit voting to committee members.

House Committee chair Jason C. Grillo '97 said before the vote that the action was provoked by a battle between committee officers and residents to control house funds after some residents managed to allocate $800 for crew shells.

But house residents rejected the proposal.