Editor’s Note: This is the final article in a series of articles examining Selma Mayor Darrio Melton’s draft budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2019, the culmination of five articles aimed at looking into the various changes proposed by the mayor. The full budget can be viewed online at www.selma-al.gov under Financial Reports.

With Selma Mayor Darrio Melton’s draft budget proposal little more than a week old, many are still trying to sift through the document’s details and make sense of the various changes the mayor has proposed.

However, Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade is not among them.

Wade’s chief concern with Melton’s budget proposal is the fact that laborers are being compensated at much lower levels than their superiors and with the raises proposed by the mayor for those same department heads, with no raise in sight for workers, that gap will only increase.

Additionally, Wade wonders why, with a more than $2 million increase over the budget adopted last year, Melton has not included the laid-off workers in his budget for next year.

“I don’t see how you can say we’re in trouble and then increase the budget without bringing the workers back,” Wade said. “We’re top heavy and workers are what we need.”

Further, Wade finds it “ironic” that the mayor would put so much stock in the $1 million supposedly in the city’s rolling reserve to the point that he is willing to completely drain it over the next year.

“I am concerned with that,” Wade said. “Why would you want to use it all up in the next year?”

One of the most easily identifiable conflicts in Melton’s budget is the gap that exists between his and Wade’s revenue projections – the treasurer notes that the city lost revenue last year due to the closure of some rentable public buildings and other facilities and theorizes that Melton’s projections might represent his knowledge of revenue streams, such as the reopening of certain buildings, that she is not privy to.

“How he’s projecting these revenues means he’s got to be planning to open these places back up,” Wade said. “We lost revenue last year – he shut down those buildings so he would know what changes might be coming. Obviously, he has plans to do something.”

Wade also fears that the mayor has included grant funding in his budget without accounting for the cost associated with those grants that the city will have to take on.

Further, she noted that the city is still owed more than $100,000 from AmeriCorp, which has been delayed due to inaction on the part of the city, according to a representative from the group.

“He should be accounting for the expenses,” Wade said. “If not, it’s going to give a false depiction of what’s going to happen.”

As far as her projections are concerned, Wade said her numbers are all based on last year’s revenue.

“I’d rather err on the side of caution than just be out there like that,” Wade said. “It’s more about making sure the needs of the citizens are being met.”

For his part, Selma City Council President Corey Bowie is keeping his eye on the budget process, having already asked each committee to review their portions of the budget and come up with ideas for how to address the needs therein.

“Our ultimate concern is making sure we pass a reasonable and balanced budget by Sept. 30,” Bowie said. “We’re trying to do something different this year. There’s going to have to be some give and take.”

Bowie did see things that he would like to address specifically, including a raise for the city’s minimum wage workers, as well as adequate funding for public safety and code enforcement.

“That’s going to be an area where I have particular concern,” Bowie said. “All of it is important, but public safety and code enforcement is something I have a passion for. We’re going to see what we can do and try to meet their needs.”

Selma City Councilman John Leashore has already focused his eye on funding for the City of Selma Public Works Department, which he fears will suffer due to its labor force being dropped to 24 from more than 50 previously.

Leashore is worried that the ongoing crisis of litter and garbage will only increase if funding is not put in place to “put someone on the ground” to cite people found breaking city ordinances.

“This garbage situation has to be fixed,” Leashore said. “This council needs to fix it.”

Selma City Councilwoman Jannie Thomas agrees.

“Our main focus should be putting some people back to work to clean up our city and build trust again with the community and elected officials,” Thomas said. “Expenditures are high and revenues are low. We need to move very carefully in spending and cutting.”

While Thomas is on board with many of the proposed pay raises, she worries that they “can’t be counted on unless there is…reliable data for new income.”

Further, Thomas is concerned with the mayor’s proposed $10 fee for trash pick-up and what she called a proposed five-cent increase on gas.

Likewise, Selma City Councilwoman Susan Youngblood stated that the council has to consider whether or not the budget keeps people safe, cleans the city’s streets and enhances assets.

“If not, we will have to implement the budgetary changes to do so,” Youngblood said. “We cannot continue in this fashion.”

While Youngblood relented that the mayor’s budget will likely “cover day-to-day operations of running the city,” she believes the council will “have to really study what has been presented.”

Selma City Councilwoman Miah Jackson, on the other hand, has a variety of concerns about Melton’s proposed budget.

“This year’s proposed budget, like last year’s, provokes a few questions,” Jackson said. “The extremely limited communication with the treasurer, virtually no communication with the council and the lack of any articulated strategic goals and objectives to justify the budget plan appears to be a repeat of [last year’s] budget process.”

Jackson wonders whether or not the mayor adequately considered the increase in ad valorem taxes and what the anticipated revenue would be as a result, as well as how that revenue would be spent.

Like Thomas, Jackson also wondered why there would be a new fee on trash pick-up without a mechanism for ensuring that the fee is paid and why the mayor is once again proposing a five-cent increase in the gas tax.

“The questions are numerous and answers are lacking,” Jackson said. “I am hopeful that the mayor will actively participate in the budget process this year and allow all the department heads to participate as well. It is imperative the council solicit their direct feedback to ensure a more accurate budget plan.”

Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheryl Smedley declined to comment on Melton’s plan to slash nearly $80,000, the department’s full allotment, from the budget, noting only that it was early in the budget negotiation process.

Selma City Council members Sam Randolph and Angela Benjamin declined to comment, while Selma City Councilmen Michael Johnson and Carl Bowline did not respond to requests for comment.