The deadline for this fiscal year, and to have a new budget in place is quickly approaching for the Selma City Council.

After coming off a year of an extended 2016-2017 budget and for a short while without a budget at all, the council must come together to decide the city’s future in the upcoming fiscal year set to begin Oct. 1.

Ultimately, it is the council’s responsibility to provide a budget each fiscal year, according to Selma City Mayor Darrio Melton.

“I will remind the people in Selma, the council is responsible for the budget. I only make recommendations, and I have made recommendations on several occasions, and they have yet to consider any of those recommendations,” Melton said earlier this year in March when the city was operating without a budget after the Feb. 28 deadline to propose a new budget passed.

Fast forward to this month, and Melton has sent his proposed $22 million budget, which is a $4.9 million increase from last year’s total.

The proposed budget has no cuts, but a steam of new revenue. Melton’s purpose is to build a safer, smarter and stronger city of Selma.

“We need to move the city forward,” Melton said. “If I want my kids to live in Selma, we’ll have to make tough choices.”

If we want to stay here ourselves, we need to make improvements.

At the first budget hearing for the 2018-2019 budget, Melton’s budget was compared to that of a letter to Santa Claus.

After going back and forth, the council members were asked to submit their own budget items to Melton.

This week, there was no advancement, and the clock is ticking.

We urge the city council members to focus on fixing this problem, so that the city can operate on a fiscal budget that will support the needs of the city.

Does this mean the tax increase proposals are the right answer?

We would hope that the council comes up with a compromise that will benefit the citizens. Make this budget with the citizens’ best interest in mind, and most importantly, work together to come up with the solution.

If our leaders are not unified in the times we need them to be, why would there be any unity between the citizens?

What example are our leaders setting by not moving forward with budget solutions?

Our leaders influence the citizens of this city more than they know.