Editor’s Note: Because of the length and content of Tuesday’s Selma City Council workshop individual issues discussed and resolved in the meeting will not be dealt with in depth in this story.

Instead, we will print a series of stories dealing with individual issues throughout the week.

Things got a little wild as the Selma City Council, Mayor James Perkins Jr., and representatives of several local agencies met and discussed proposed budget cuts for the 2004-2005 fiscal year budget.

Council President George Evans called down several fellow council members for being out of order during the meeting that saw tempers flare and at teams left some on the verge of tears.

“I believe that when we first started this process all council people said we needed to look universally at the cuts, we needed to put everything on the table,” Perkins said. “We needed to look across the board, there would be no sacred cows.”

Earlier in the budget process, Perkins handed out sheets with different agencies and planned cuts.

He asked the council members to mark which ones they could and could not live with.

Councilmen Cecil Williamson and Reid Cain did not participate, both said at the time that they believed it is the mayor’s duty to present the budget.

“We went back and worked through the numbers,” Perkins said. “We went forward with all of your recommendations.

Cain and Williamson opposed most of the proposals, saying they preferred the city to consider cutting more employees, rather than contributions to agencies and services.

Perkins responded by saying it is unfair to single out city employees but not ask agencies to take cuts.

“To say that it’s ok to just cut the jobs of all these folks, but nobody outside of the city in all these agencies should be cut?” Perkins said. “That sends the wrong message.”

Cain recommended 60 people cut from the city’s pay roll, Williamson said about 75

Cain re-stated his position that the city has 100 more employees than the average of the other nine cities in Alabama of relative size.

“I have been saying that four for years,” Perkins said.

Perkins took exception to the suggestion that the city has added jobs in his four years.

He presented the council with a document from Valeria Jones, Personnel Director of the City of Selma, that the city had 409 employees with 20 budgeted vacancies in the year 1999-2000.

The chart went on to state that in 2003-2004, the city had387 employees and 9 budgeted vacancies.

Cain then cited his own statistics in which he went back in past budgets and counted the employees.

He said that in 1999, some of the employees held more than one job and he did not count them twice.

Cain added that he would like to meet with the mayor and go over the numbers, leaving the possibility open that both men were working with numbers that are technically correct.

With a 4 p.m. start time, the meeting began by discussing insurance benefits for retirees.

Perkins addressed rumors that the city was thinking of cutting all insurance benefits for its retired employees.

Instead, Perkins said the proposed plan would only affect 42 retirees not yet 65 but still eligible for city benefits.

Instead of paying for those retirees full benefits package, the city would pick up half the tab, for a savings of $62,000.

“We were as compassionate as we could be at the same time be fiscally responsible,” Perkins said.

“The best scenario is 42 people are going to have to pay $64,000 a year for their insurance?” Williamson asked.

“We were trying to find a way and still give them an opportunity,” Perkins said. “At the time this was done, the premium was $94, now it’s $230.

The costs just keep going up.”

Councilwoman Janie Venter said it is appropriate for those retirees to pay half the costs.

She also seemed surprised to learn that some retired employees have gone on to take full-time jobs in other places, yet still collect city insurance.

“I wish I had that mess when I retired from my job,” Venter said. “That is a burden.

When I retired I had to pick up all insurance.”

Council President George Evans explained that originally the insurance package had been a fringe benefit for employees.

The council moved slowly through the first half of the meeting, hashing over about half of the mayor’s 15 proposed cuts.

About 6:30 p.m., the council took a break and allowed many of the agencies’ representatives to speak.

Before a 10-minute break, the council also heard from Perkins and Economic Development CEO Wayne Vardaman on the transfer of the city’s tourism work from the Planning and Development office to the EDA.

After the break, Evans made a move to end the meeting just before the five-hour mark.

He asked the council if they had any specific questions regarding the leftover proposals.

When there were none, he asked if it would be possible for the council members to get copies of the next draft about a week before the Jan. 10th meeting so they could go over it, then get with the mayor with any questions.