Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. officially presented his proposed city budget for 2002-2003 at a City Council work session Wednesday.

The City Council had been slated to take up the budget at its regular meeting Monday but agreed to put it off.

Even though it hasn’t been finalized yet, the totals appear to be about the same as last year, Perkins said.

Figures from this year’s budget show a projected total amount of approximately $17.5 million compared to approximately $17 million last year, a slight increase.

Items in the proposed budget discussed during the work session included:

Lengthy discussion on funding for the Selma Police and Fire departments, as well as for the Smitherman Building, also occurred during the meeting.

Both Perkins and council members said they were pleased with the &uot;civility&uot; of the discussion that took place Wednesday, a discussion, which lasted approximately two hours.

Councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw said she was also pleased with the tone of the discussion.

Both council members and the mayor said they expected to vote on the finalized version of the budget sometime in early October.