Last week, news broke about accounting and bookkeeping issues at the city-owned historic St. James Hotel, sending off alarms for those on the city council.

The city’s original contract with Strand Management, who handles day-to-day operations of the hotel, said it would pay $4,000 or 3 percent of gross revenues each month to the company for managing the hotel, but additional expenses have piled up and the city has paid approximately $20,000 each month to keep running.

Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade said an informal audit conducted for the first three weeks of October revealed several accounting “improprieties.” Among the issues were cash deposits were “much less” than what was reflected on sales reports, cash deposits were not made in a timely manner and customers were given refunds when initial charges could not be found.

With thousands preparing to descend upon Selma in just a few short weeks, now is probably not the time to dive into a knee-deep investigation of the hotel and its operations.

But when the crowds clear and 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday has come and gone, the city will need to set its focus on what to do with the struggling hotel.

We’ve written in the past that the hotel is vital to Selma’s revitalization, and we still believe that. It’s hard to see the city thriving at its peak without the St. James, which is one of the most recognizable sites in the downtown area.

Some believe it’s time for the city to get out of the hotel business. That may be true, but first the city must find a way to keep the doors open without letting the St. James continue to drain the city’s coffers. The city likely won’t be able to afford throwing $20,000 a month at the hotel for an extended period of time and even if it can, it shouldn’t. Nobody wants to see the hotel turn into another abandoned building filling up space in downtown, but changes have to be made.

Those changes should start after an in-depth review, which should take a hard look at the future of the St. James Hotel and the city of Selma’s role in it.