Faculty receive stipend for public transit
Mark Aspillera
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: News
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A new commuter check program implemented last semester allows staff and faculty to deduct stipends from their paychecks to use toward select Bay Area mass transit systems, said Andy Chow, A.S. Transportation Solutions commute specialist coordinator.
The Parking, Traffic and Transit Advisory Committee created the program, the "SJSU Pre-Tax Public Transportation Deduction Plan," Chow said.
It allows applicants to defer up to $110 per month and $1,320 per year, before taxes, on a monthly basis.
The checks are mailed directly to applicants' homes to be used for the transit system of their choice.
Chow said individual requests from professors and staff members coming to the Transportation Solutions office was the advisory committee's main motivation for the program.
Michaux Burchard, human resources representative on the advisory committee agreed, but added that the advisory committee had it's own reasons for having the program.
"We were approaching it from an environmental standpoint," he said, referring to the advisory committee, "but it was really the commuters themselves and their desire to have a program like this."
The commuter check program is available only to official university staff and faculty, excluding employees of auxiliary offices like Associated Students, Spartan Shops and the Student Union.
Chow said auxiliary employees are on a different payroll from staff and faculty. Implementing a program for auxiliaries would require a new approval process.
"I want to make a promise that there is a possibility to include auxiliaries," he said.
Kerrie Curtis, a junior art education major, did not see why some employees would need to have a commuter check program.
"To work at Spartan Shops you need to live close by anyways," she said.
Burchard said negotiations to implement the program took about a year.
Chow said there was no opposition to the program. Instead, the long implementation time was the result of the approval process.
The Parking, Traffic and Transit Advisory Committee created the program, the "SJSU Pre-Tax Public Transportation Deduction Plan," Chow said.
It allows applicants to defer up to $110 per month and $1,320 per year, before taxes, on a monthly basis.
The checks are mailed directly to applicants' homes to be used for the transit system of their choice.
Chow said individual requests from professors and staff members coming to the Transportation Solutions office was the advisory committee's main motivation for the program.
Michaux Burchard, human resources representative on the advisory committee agreed, but added that the advisory committee had it's own reasons for having the program.
"We were approaching it from an environmental standpoint," he said, referring to the advisory committee, "but it was really the commuters themselves and their desire to have a program like this."
The commuter check program is available only to official university staff and faculty, excluding employees of auxiliary offices like Associated Students, Spartan Shops and the Student Union.
Chow said auxiliary employees are on a different payroll from staff and faculty. Implementing a program for auxiliaries would require a new approval process.
"I want to make a promise that there is a possibility to include auxiliaries," he said.
Kerrie Curtis, a junior art education major, did not see why some employees would need to have a commuter check program.
"To work at Spartan Shops you need to live close by anyways," she said.
Burchard said negotiations to implement the program took about a year.
Chow said there was no opposition to the program. Instead, the long implementation time was the result of the approval process.
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