Budget season is now in the rear-view mirror.

Part of my News Editor’s duties at The Selma Times-Journal is writing about the budgets for Dallas County and the cities of Selma and Valley Grande.

I got an up-close view on how each side handled finalizing their budgets for the 2019 fiscal year, which began Monday.

Each side took a different approach to make the Sept. 30 deadline, which is the last day for the 2018 fiscal year.

The Dallas County Commission was the first of the three to complete its $22.2 million budget on Sept. 8.  The Commission­- Probate Judge and chairman Kim Ballard, Valerie Reuben. Roy Moore, Curtis Williams, Larry Nickles, and Administrator Barbara Harrell- all had a couple of private meetings to complete the process.

Valley Grande’s council- Mayor Matt Dobbs and its council of Tammy Troha, Jimmy Johnson, Ronald Sawyer, Tim White and city clerk Janet Frasier- all met privately and announced a budget of $791,370,00 on Sept. 17.

The process took a little longer for the Selma City Council to complete its budget four days before the deadline. The Queen City was under a different ordeal than the county and Valley Grande.

We all know how the process started in August when Mayor Darrio Melton sent a proposed $22 million budget to the council. The council eventually rejected Melton’s budget last month, setting off a chain of wild events that occurred at city hall.

I’ll give the council credit for overcoming adversity. Council President Corey Bowie guaranteed they’d complete a balanced budget and they did, approving a $17.4 million budget.

Bowie, councilmen Carl Bowline, Sam Randolph, councilwomen Susan Youngblood, Angela Benjamin, Miah Jackson and Jannie Thomas all approved the budget.

Councilmen Michael Johnson and John Leashore abstained, but I applaud them for sticking to their principles. It’s okay to disagree and have differences. That’s how our society works.

Bowie said the budget process made the nine-member council more unified.

I’m all for people working together as a team because society’s too complicated for one side to do things alone.

Even Superman needed Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash in the Justice League to thwart Lex Luthor and Doomsday’s threat to take over the world.

I know those characters aren’t real, but I’m hoping Dallas County can unite and make the state’s largest land mass a great environment to live and thrive.