Vibe Radio, the Erindale campus radio station, is accusing the Students’ Administrative Council of crippling the station’s operations by withholding their funding.

SAC has withheld $12,300 of Vibe’s $18,000 student levy and will not pay up unless Vibe signs a contract that will bind them to eliminating their debt and subject them to an outside accounting audit.

Vibe has accumulated a debt of $10,000 to the Erindale College Student Union (ECSU) over the last nine years. SAC’s vice-president operations, John Lea, said it is time for the radio station to pay up.

Lea said both ECSU and Vibe agreed to the written contract. “It’s unfortunate that this has been blown out of proportion, after the fact,” he said.

Radio Erindale’s station manager, Matt Sullivan, said that Vibe is at a standstill, unable to operate, pay wages, and promote their radio station without the money. “SAC doesn’t need to be involved and have nothing to do it with it. They are playing God…putting their nose where it doesn’t belong,” said Sullivan.

ECSU president Adil Mirza said he is not sure why SAC is withholding the fees. Mirza said Vibe’s books are checked annually by external auditors.

Sullivan said the station’s funding comes through an $18,000 student levy paid by all students at Erindale. The levy is collected by SAC on behalf of the radio station. Over the summer, Vibe received $3000. Last week, $2,700 in additional funds was handed to Vibe by SAC university affairs commissioner Mohammed Hashim.

Sullivan said Hashim came to bribe him with Vibe’s money to encourage Sullivan to sign the debt repayment contract.

“It’s a simple fact. The fees are paid by the will of the students and see where it is fit to go. It’s blackmail with our own incidentals. It’s ridiculous,” said Sullivan. “Lea is hurting [SAC’s] constituents…. Our staff is livid and there is a pile of confusion.”

The confusion extends to how much money Vibe’s $4-per-student levy should bring in. Lea said the funding should total $11,400. But Sullivan said the levy should add up to $18,000. ECSU’s Mirza thought the levy totalled approximately $21,000.

Lea explained that something had to be done about the debts of campus radio stations. The St. George campus station, CIUT 89.5, once had a debt of $200,000, he said.

Lea said Vibe has to answer to SAC for money matters in the end. “Sullivan and past student societies would say that no one is responsible for accumulated debts. It’s a serious structural problem. There has to be financial accountability.”

Lea said withholding the money is a pre-emptive move so the radio station will be fiscally healthy in the future. “SAC can’t run a debt…. It’s irresponsible to have no plans to write it off. We are responsible for the assets and liabilities and can’t let this continue.”

But Sullivan said that ECSU is the organization with control over Vibe because it appoints the radio station’s board of directors.

A meeting between SAC and Vibe will take place today in the offices of Student Affairs, the administration wing charged with supervising campus clubs.