The Assembly approved a $6 student activity fee increase Monday night, which will be brought to a student body referendum later this week.

Student representatives approved a complex ballot, which will put activity fee questions, Student Association executive board elections and constitutional changes together in the same election.

The student vote on the fee is separated into three parts: whether the fee should be mandatory, whether the fee should be set at $92.50 and how the fee should be allocated.

If students vote against the increase to $92.50, the SA would lose funding altogether. It would be forced to rely on its cash reserves.

The proposed increase to the fee — from $86.50 to $92.50 per semester — was designed to provide funds to salvage a drowning bus service and bring first-class programming to Binghamton University.

Aaron Cohn, the SA’s vice president for programming, said the proposed increases were “designed specifically to keep OCCT [Off Campus College Transport] and SAPB [Student Association Programming Board] afloat.”

He said OCCT and SAPB, organizations that experienced financial troubles this year, need a sustainable source of income. Cohn was confident that students understand the need for these programs and that they would be willing to shoulder the increase.

“They’re going to pass it because they know this is what the University needs,” he said.

The fee has not been changed since 2007, when it was increased by $2. According to SA President Adam Amit, “historically speaking, this has never failed.”

But there was significant opposition to the activity fee increases.

Adam Shamah, an Assembly representative for Off Campus College, was one of the staunchest voices for keeping the student activity fee at its current level. He pointed to the SA’s available cash reserves of over $250,000, and called it “reckless” to increase the activity fee with that extra money at their disposal.

Shamah argued that we have “enough money to satisfy the needs of OCCT and SAPB, while still having a little left over.”

Cohn disagreed with Shamah, claiming the SAPB “needs support.” Cohn asserted that the plans would not reduce the amount of money given to student groups.

Daniel Rabinowitz, the SA vice president for academic affairs, sided with Shamah. Rabinowitz thought an increase in the activity fee was not necessary because the SA has a significant amount in reserves.

“There’s no need for us to increase it this year,” he said. “We have the money — let’s use it.”

However, Giovanni Torres, the service manager of OCCT, wanted to see a solution that would provide guaranteed, long-term funding for OCCT.

“We wanted to be able to stand behind them and see them go beyond our time here,” he said.

Students pay the student activity fee every semester to fund the SA, student groups, OCCT and the SAPB, which brings speakers and musicians to Binghamton University.

In the absence of funding beyond its current budget, the OCCT system is on track to go under in 2013, according to SA President Adam Amit. Cohn also said that a higher programming budget would position BU to attract the most popular acts.

The SA passed a resolution that proposes a specific plan on how to allocate the activity fee money, rather than leaving the allocations up to the Financial Council.

Elahd Bar-Shai, the chair of the Assembly, presided over last night’s complicated proceedings, which included many maneuvers of parliamentary procedure.

“Everything went pretty well for a meeting this long,” Bar-Shai said. “We voted on some of the most controversial issues. What we ended up achieving was a compromise.”