Editor’s note: This story is the first in a series analyzing the spending of discretionary funds, travel funds and oil lease funds on the part of the Selma City Council and Selma Mayor George Evans. This first installment focuses on the travel expenditures on the part of members of the Selma City Council. 

Four members of the Selma City Council have spent travel funds this fiscal year, but those four members have already spent more than what was budgeted, according to city documents ending Feb. 28.

Each year, council members receive $10,000 in total discretionary funding, with $2,500 allocated for travel. Council members also receive tens of thousands in oil lease funding — which can only be used for certain types of infrastructure projects. Each council member and Selma Mayor George Evans received $17,800 in oil lease funds in 2014.

None of those funds line the pockets of council members or the mayor. Instead, discretionary, travel and oil lease money sits in city bank accounts — one for each ward. When a council member decides to spend a portion of their money, finance director Cynthia Mitchell, or a member of her department, drafts a check for the specific amount.

Selma City Council president Corey Bowie said traveling to conferences is vital to the council’s knowledge about laws and issues affecting Selma.

“Part of travel is promoting professional development on the council,” Bowie said. “After conferences, the members come back with different ideas to foster a better city.”

Four council members — Ward 4 councilwoman Angela Benjamin, Ward 5 councilman Sam Randolph, Ward 7 councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw and Ward 8 councilman Michael Johnson — have already spent more than their designated travel amounts, according to city finance documents.

As of Feb. 28, Benjamin spent nearly $4,000 in travel funds, Randolph has spent slightly more than $3,700, Crenshaw has spent just over $2,600 and Johnson has spent more than $3,700.

In describing her three listed travel expenditures, Benjamin used doctors as an example of professional development’s necessity.

“If a doctor had never gone to any kind of professional development he wouldn’t know the latest on anything that could make your body better,” she said. “Wouldn’t you rather see a doctor that is up-to-date on all the latest technology and medical practices?”

Benjamin’s first travel expenditure was for a National League of Cities Conference in Seattle, totaling $2,244.36, according to city documents. Her other two expenditures don’t list a specific purpose, but are listed on city documents as Regions commercial bankcard. Her second expenditure occurred Nov. 18, 2013, totaling $1,090.80. The third occurred Dec. 20, 2013 and totals $644.

Benjamin said she was unsure of what each invoice paid for, but said the Dec. 20 expense likely paid for a plane ticket to Seattle.

A Regions commercial bankcard is listed on both Benjamin’s and Randolph’s travel expenditures. Randolph said the listings represent a city council credit card.

“We can use the card to book our flights and pay our registration fees,” he said.

Randolph, who also exceeded his budgeted travel amount, has three travel expenditures listed on city documents.

The first is for the National League of Cities Conference in Seattle, totaling $2,035.96. The second is listed as Regions commercial bankcard and totals $1,699.30. Randolph said the second expense, which took place on Nov. 18, 2013, is likely associated with the National League of Cities Conference.

The third expense is a travel refund to Randolph, totaling $35.99.

Randolph also talked about the benefits of attending conferences.

“I feel that each council person should be able to travel and network with other cities so they can bring ideas back to Selma,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed networking with cities that are the same size of Selma. Some of them have the same problems as us.”

Crenshaw has two expenditures listed, both associated with the National League of Cities Conference. The first took place on Oct. 23 and is listed at $1,804.49. The second took place on Nov. 18, is listed at $810 and is tied to the Regions card.

Johnson also has two expenditures listed. The first took place on Oct. 23 and is listed at $2,035.96. The second took place on Nov. 18, is listed at $1,669.30 and is tied to the Regions card.

In instances where the council exceeds budgeted travel amounts, Mitchell said council members could use discretionary funding to bolster travel accounts. Mitchell said council members could also pay for overages out of their personal finances.

Five council members overspent travel accounts during the 2013 fiscal year —running from October 2012 to September 2013.

Because of overages, Bowie said the city’s budget was amended to transfer money. Bowie said some, less-traveled council members volunteered their travel funds to others who traveled more.

In Randolph’s case, he spent less than his budgeted discretionary amount, using the remaining portion to pay for an overage in travel fees. He plans to take similar steps following the 2014 fiscal year.

Ward 2 councilwoman Susan Keith exceeded her budgeted amount by $166 during the 2013 fiscal year. Keith said she paid for the overage using her own personal finances.

She wasn’t sure of the exact date, but Keith said the city council used funds from Selma’s recycling program to help pay for a recycling conference in a previous fiscal year.

Five of the nine council members have yet to spend any travel funds in 2014, including Ward 1 councilman Cecil Williamson, Ward 3 councilman Greg Bjelke, Ward 6 councilman B.L. Tucker, Keith and Bowie.

Bowie said some council members choose not to travel because of ailing family members and others are limited by his or her job.

Friday, Williamson said he plans to attend the Alabama League of Municipalities Convention, which began Saturday in Mobile. He said traveling is important, but only to a certain extent.

“The first priority for all of the council should be taking care of problems within the city,” Williamson said. “When there are issues discussed that are pertinent to Selma, then I think traveling is fine, but we need to stay within the budget.”

The council’s current travel limits are a fairly recent change. Randolph said during the final years of former Mayor James Perkins’ term, which ended in 2007, travel amounts were changed significantly. Randolph said the council previously shared one pool of travel funds, equaling $45,000. Prior to the changes, council members also received $15,000 per year in discretionary funding.

Spending cuts limited the amount of travel for council members, according to Randolph.

“You can hardly go on one trip with $2,500,” he said. “If you want to better yourself, then I think a certain amount of travel is needed, but if you don’t want to travel then that’s fine.”

This article has been amended from a previous version to state the correct number of council members that attended a National League of Cities Conference in Seattle.