Despite news to the contrary last week, a bill that would allow the Dallas County Commission to pass a half-cent sales tax to benefit county schools is on hold until an agreement can be reached.

In a statement released Monday by Rep. Darrio Melton, he said he wants to ensure all sides are in agreement concerning the tax before moving forward with the bill.

“My first priority is making sure that the city of Selma and Dallas County students receive a top-tier education, but let me be clear,” Melton said. “There will be no bill if there isn’t an agreed-upon solution from everyone involved.”

The bill has yet to be introduced, and it appears like it won’t make it that far unless the city and county can come to an agreement on the split of the half-cent tax revenue.

“Before I take any steps forward in the legislative process, I want to be certain that everyone involved — our legislative delegation, school superintendents, mayor and probate judge — are all confident that the solution is in the best interests of our children,” Melton said.

Dallas County Commission Chairman Kim Ballard said representatives of the county, city and both superintendents, along with Rep. Darrio Melton and Sen, Hank Sanders met Friday to discuss the tax. Ballard said he felt like they had reached a verbal agreement, but no one had signed on the terms yet.

“It’s not the Dallas County Commission’s responsibility, obligation or business to meddle in the finances of the Selma City School System,” Ballard said.

“So when they offered the 90-10 split to get legislation passed to approve the split, I was not too happy with the 10 percent. But if the Dallas County School Board wanted to do that, I would certainly go along with it.”

Numbers from 2013 that were provided by the Alabama Department of Education show that the city had an ending fund balance of $4,180,671, while the county had $328,763.

By law, school systems are required to have at least one month’s operating expenses on reserve, and those numbers reflect that the city schools were well above that requirement, while the county was well below it, falling short of $1,886,275.

The current tax, which was intended to fund just the county schools, currently splits the revenue in half. Since June, city schools have been collecting around $75,000 a month, according to Dallas County Superintendent Don Willingham.

Selma City Schools did not budget for the money from the tax until after the discrepancy in the original tax was discovered.

“In 2012, we approached the county commission because we were in dire straits, and they saw our need and met it,” Willingham said.

A phone call to Dr. Angela Mangum, superintendent of Selma City Schools, was not returned Monday.

If the bill isn’t passed, there is a possibility of the original tax being rescinded altogether.

“For us, this is crucial. For us, this is to handle and maintain and work with operations,” Willingham said.