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The City of Selma has received an improvement on its S&P credit rating. 

Mayor James Perkins Jr. announced on Feb. 26 that the city received an investment

grade rating of BBB from S&P. The rating gives Selma the ability to reenter the bond market and refinance current debt and borrowed money for needed capital projects.  

Perkins credited Treasurer Terri Barnes-Smith and the Finance Department team, which includes Janice Stewart, Cherie Hamilton and Zanecia Williams. Selma satisfied all S&P requirements to receive a creditable bond rating.

“I am extremely proud of the work done by Ms. Smith and her team,” Perkins said. “They have completed three municipal audits in two years and have met the very challenging reporting requirements of S&P to restore a market bond rating. These accomplishments have been made in a very politically charged environment. For this, she and her team deserve to be publicly acknowledged and congratulated because this has not been easy. Most citizens are not aware of how much damage was done to the financial credibility of the city that caused us to lose our bond rating. But for a city to lose its bond rating that is a very big deal. And now to get it back this is a very big deal,’’

Perkins, however, said, the work is far from over.

“We still have some major challenges ahead of us and S&P makes clear in their report that  they are closely watching,” Perkins said. “I mentioned several times in the S&P report about the negative politics in Selma.  To directly quote their words, ‘political impasse,’ ‘political discord,’ ‘political strife,’ ‘political  gridlock,’ ‘political resistance,’ and mentioned three separate times is, ‘political instability.’ Alabama Public Examiners, two independent municipal auditing firms and now S&P have pointed this out. This is not something that I want to keep fighting over. But the practices of the  previous city council that have been carried forward by this city council are a major problem for our  city and if not stopped, we will find ourselves right back in the same financial, operational, and administerial hole.”

Selma City Councilman Clay Carmichael said the city needs more than a BBB rating. Carmichael said that Selma lost the rating because nobody contacted S&P during the last few months of the Darrio Melton administration and the first few days of the current administration.

“While I’m appreciative of the fact that S&P gave us a rating, I don’t think it’s anything to write home about and definitely not a reason to start pointing fingers and creating more political discord,” Carmichael said. “Everyone should understand that it’s a building process. We must be responsible in how we handle business, public relations, and financial accountability. We need an A rating, and that takes years of focus.”