The Selma City Council has scheduled a meeting with Mayor Darrio Melton in early August to discuss the upcoming Fiscal year.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Bowie said a meeting with Melton will take place the second week of August, but didn’t have a specific date.  City Treasurer Ronita Wade will also be present. At last week’s Ward 7 meeting, Melton also said he plans to meet with the City Council about the budget.

Bowie also urged the other eight council members – Miah Jackson, Angela Benjamin, Jannie Thomas, Susan Youngblood, Carl Bowline, Michael Johnson, Sam Randolph and John Leashore – all to take inventory on what they spent during the year.

Jackson spoke about the importance of properly handling the city’s finances.

“We need to be fiscally responsible,” Jackson said.

Benjamin doesn’t want a repeat from 2017, when the city decided to operate the rest of that year on the 2016-17 budget with amendments after a vote on March 9 by the City Council.  Up to Feb. 28, the city was operating without a budget.

“We’re headed down the same path as last year,” Benjamin said.

The 2016-2017 budget was just over $17 million. The proposed 2017-2018 budget from Melton was for $17.9 million. As of Tuesday night, the City Council and Wade hadn’t received budget projections for 2019.

Wade expressed the urgency of finalizing a budget before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The 2019 year begins Oct. 1.

“It takes three months to formulate a budget, it doesn’t happen overnight,” Wade said. “I’m prepared to do whatever it takes.”

Leashore stressed honesty when it comes to dealing with the budget.

“We need cooperation from both sides,” Leashore said. “The people of Selma deserves to know what the city budget is.”

Those words produced a thunderous applause from the Saving Selma Lives group, whose members attended the Council Meeting.

The next Selma City Council meeting will be at 5 p.m. Aug. 7 at City Hall.