Strand Management has at least 21 concerns about the city-owned St. James Hotel, but when the Selma City Council meets Tuesday it’s only expected to address two. 

During the council’s Thursday work session, Strand — the St. James Hotel’s management company — delivered a list of 21 different repairs, concerns or purchases needed to bring the hotel up to par.

Verhonda Sercey, a regional operations director for Strand, said maintaining the building’s integrity was most important, pointing to repairing gutters and the hotel’s roof as critical items.

“We really want the hotel to be on the same level as other hotels and have the same things,” Sercey said during the work session. “I think we want to move as soon as possible, especially on the building items.”

After the meeting, the council placed replacing or repairing gutters and roof repair on its consent agenda, which is used for items the council unanimously agrees on. The total cost of both items is $45,000 and is slated to be withdrawn from the city’s half-cent sales tax fund, according to the council’s consent agenda.

If the council approves its consent agenda Tuesday, it would contain only a small part of the $136,300 in total repairs Strand suggested on its list.

Other repairs include replacing a washer and dryer — $12,000 — replacing all current TVs with a high-definition version — $12,000 — replacing mattresses in all 42 rooms — $12,600 — and replacing the hotel’s key machine and locks — $14,600.

One of the less-expensive items not on the consent agenda was replacing the hotel’s performance management system. Sercey said the system would allow Strand to list the St. James on popular travel websites and increase visibility online. She said the hotel’s current system doesn’t allow booking on popular third-party websites or travel agencies.

“Anyone who is looking online doesn’t see us,” she said. “Replacing the system is going to be an immediate impact.”

Ward 4 councilwoman Angela Benjamin said during Thursday’s work session that the repairs may seem small but are significant when compared to the city’s budget.

“It’s huge to our budget in the middle of going into another [fiscal] year,” she said.

Friday, council president Corey Bowie said the city may choose to address the remaining issues by earmarking a certain portion of the city’s half-cent tax in the fiscal year 2015 budget.

Though a handful of expensive items, including police cars and fire trucks, are already earmarked in the half-cent tax for 2015, Bowie said he wasn’t concerned.

“I got a sense of hope after hearing the Department of Revenue’s report,” he said.

Alabama Department of Revenue representative John Paradise told the council Thursday that the city is slowly beginning to collect all of its sales tax. Previously, several city officials were concerned that a more than $100,000 drop in sales tax, compared to last year, was caused by businesses paying less than the required amount.

“We do find there are some compliance issues and we are vigorously working with those issues,” Paradise said. “I do feel very confident that within 90 days, you will see some significant numbers come through. We have done what we said we were going to do and will continue to do that.”

Paradise referred to business audits that the Department of Revenue conducts as part of being a municipality’s tax collector. He said Selma was currently about 1 percent shy of collecting all sales tax owed.

“I like their aggressive approach,” Bowie said Friday. “If we earmark a certain amount [of the half-cent tax] for capital improvement projects I think we will be able to take care of the rest of the repairs.”