Selma council OKs first budget in two years

For the first time in two years, the city of Selma has a budget.

The budget approved by the Selma City Council Sept. 26 lists $22.4 million in revenue and $23.7 million in expenses. The council balanced the budget by temporarily defunding $2.9 million in budgeted but unfilled positions and by freezing a proposed salary increase for some city employees, which saved another $275,000. With those savings, the city is left with a budget surplus of about $1.8 million, or 7% of expenses.

It will fall to Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. to identify which vacant jobs to defund, a task he said he did not relish.

“For the record, I do not agree with this decision” to defund empty positions, Perkins said in a memo to the council. “The administration knows that these positions are needed so that the city can become fully operational.”

Perkins repeated that position at the Oct. 26 meeting. “I’m not comfortable with the cuts,” Perkins said. “But I will do what I said I’d do,” which was to select which unfilled positions are to be defunded.

The budget includes $350,000 for a citywide camera surveillance system that is under consideration and $100,000 Perkins requested to pay for a special election on a referendum to increase property taxes.

Financing the city’s long-term debt is a major expense this year. Last year the city spent about $655,000 to finance a warrant taken out by the Evans administration. The payments ballooned to $2.1 million this year. Throw in another $267,000 in payments for a 2014 water and sewer bond, and the city’s price tag for financing long-term debt is $2.4 million, more than double the $921,000 it paid in the 2023 fiscal year.

Passing a budget before the Oct. 1 deadline is the first step in addressing the city’s long-term debt problem. The city would like to refinance the ballooned warrant, but it can’t because Selma lost its credit rating during the Melton administration. City officials have said no financial institution will negotiate a loan with a city that has no credit rating.

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Having a balanced budget is one of the requirements to get Standard and Poor to give the city a credit rating. The city could then take its credit rating to a financial institution and renegotiate the terms of the ballooned loan, giving the city some financial breathing room.

Finance Committee Chairman Troy Harvill said that if the long-term debt payment can be lowered, the defunded positions could be restored, and the jobs filled.

Council members wanted the public to understand that no one will lose their job and that the budget does create a hiring freeze. Perkins replied that while there isn’t a hiring freeze, some positions will be defunded, “so those positions won’t be available for hire.”

Eight council members approved the budget. Michael Johnson abstained.

Meanwhile, Perkins wants to hold a referendum to increase property taxes to bring more money into the city. He has said if citizens approve higher property taxes, they will get their money back because the city will take over garbage collection. A private company now picks up garbage and charges a separate fee.

Major expenses in the FY 2024 budget include $4.9 million for the police department, $4.8 million for the fire department, $2.8 million for the public works department and $1.7 million for “general government.” The budget sets aside $1.2 million for lawsuit settlements and judgements.

The city of Selma did not have a budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which started on Oct. 1, 2022. The mayor’s office and the council could not agree on a budget for the entire year. In fact, when the council approved a budget in March 2023 that defunded unfilled positions just as it did in the new budget, Perkins was so upset that he sued the council and got an injunction preventing the budget from taking effect. That lawsuit has not been settled, but it is not being actively pursued.