Selma City Council hopes to balance budget by using leftover funds and reducing funded but unfilled positions 

Selma City Council’s Finance Committee hopes to balance the city’s budget by using leftover federal and local funds and by removing some unfilled positions from the ledger.   

The Finance Committee, which is the entire council, met Aug. 7 to work on next year’s budget. By law, the council must approve a balanced budget by the time the new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. But according to a lawsuit filed against the council by Mayor James Perkins Jr., the council and the mayor were instructed to agree on a budget by Aug. 1.   

Perkins presented a budget to the council several weeks ago, but the council did not approve it because it was balanced using nonrecurring revenue, including leftover American Rescue Plan Act funds and some budget surplus from previous years. Several members of the council, including its chairman, Troy Harvill, said they were opposed to using nonrecurring (onetime) revenue to cover ongoing expenses like salaries and operating expenses.   

At Monday’s meeting, the council members in attendance (Michael Johnson and Clay Carmichael were absent) agreed to use some nonrecurring revenue to make the budget work. No vote was taken, but the council agreed to save another $700,000 by not giving department heads a raise requested by Perkins.   

The council also agreed to ask Perkins to help balance the budget by reducing the number of positions that are funded but unfilled.   

“I would have no clue about who is absolutely critical to make the city run,” Harvill said. “I can’t make that determination.” Council President “Billy” Young said, “None of us can.”   

Harvill noted that many of the funded but unfilled positions have not been filled for years. Councilman Samuel Randolph suggested removing the funding for all unfilled positions and having the mayor ask for funding as each position is filled rather than including all unfilled positions in the budget.  

“I can hear the mayor saying, ‘Stay in your lane.’ But he won’t jump on you like he jumps on me,” Harvill joked to Randolph.   

A major issue in the upcoming budget is a ballooning interest payment on a warrant (a type of loan) taken out by a previous city council. The interest payment will double to about $2 million this year.   

Perkins and the City Council are anxious to refinance the warrant to get a lower interest rate, but they can’t refinance until the city gets a credit rating, which was lost in the last administration. The rating agency Standard & Poor won’t give the city a credit rating until it approves a balanced budget, which adds to the urgency.   

Meanwhile, the council will also ask the city treasurer and their attorney to look into what if anything can be done to use $3.5 million left over in a bond fund. No one knew what the bond funds were for.   

“If we could use that $3.5 million from the bond to help pay the warrant, it would make a whole lot of difference,” Harvill said.   

Perkins and the City Council were unable to agree on a budget for the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2023. The city is operating under the 2022 budget. The council approved its version of the budget in May. That budget was balanced by eliminating almost 60 positions, half of which were filled.   

Perkins got a court order preventing that budget from taking effect and sued the City Council. That lawsuit is on pause, but the pause depended on the council and the mayor agreeing on a budget for the 2024 budget year by Aug. 1.