Selma hires Alabama Department of Revenue to handle its tax collections

The city of Selma is $1.7 million behind on collecting taxes, and they’ve hired the state to bring the money in.

The Selma City Council Jan. 13 voted to contract with the Alabama Department of Revenue to administer and collect the city’s sales, use, rental and lodging taxes. The city has been working with Avenu Insights and Analytics, a private company that administrates taxes for many cities and counties.

Selma Mayor Johnny Moss III told the council that his review of the city’s finances revealed that taxpayers owe the city $1.7 million in taxes. “We will aggressively go after” the unpaid taxes, Moss said. “That’s the reason for the change from Avenu.”

The state will take over administrating Selma’s taxes on April 1. Moss said he will ask Avenu to provide a breakdown of citizens and companies that haven’t paid their taxes before their contract expires.

Moss asked the council to suspend its rules and vote on hiring the Alabama Department of Revenue to administer its taxes, which the council did unanimously.

The city council voted to give Rise and Recover, a Selma-based substance abuse treatment and counseling service, $25,000. Its CEO, Miah Tolbert, asked the city for $50,000, but the city’s opioid account only has $35,000. Councilperson Jannie Thomas said she would ask the council to give Rise and Recover another $25,000 when more funds are placed in the account from the settlement of a nationwide opioid lawsuit.  

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At its next meeting, the city council will consider a resolution requiring businesses that are open from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. to have surveillance cameras and at least one security officer.

“People don’t feel safe,” said Thomas, who sponsored the resolution.  

The council will also consider a five-year, $500,000 contract with Axon to provide TASERs and body cameras for Selma police officers.

Selma-Dallas County Library Director Becky Nichols asked the council to take on the library’s utility bills so the library can make needed improvements to the building.

Nichols said the city council stopped paying the library’s utilities 20 years ago. If the city again pays the library’s $100,000 annual utilities bills, the library would have the funds to replace its aging elevator and fire alarms, Nichols said.