After months of debate, the Selma City Council is turning to its constituents to help decide prices for vendor licenses.

The city council will have a public hearing at 5 p.m. on Feb. 6 to decide prices charged for vendors and peddlers licenses after failing to come to a consensus.

In July, the council originally began discussing charging vendors $50 per day for events like the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. A later draft of the ordinance decreased vendor licenses to $30 for the first day and $10 for subsequent days for booths at events. Non-store retailers, or peddlers, would be charged $50 daily and $75 weekly.

City council president Corey Bowie said the amounts were fair in comparison to similarly sized cities after proposing the prices.

“People should keep in mind that the prices we are putting in place are a lot lower than other cities our size,” said in December. “This is not an additional tax. We are simply trying to get what is due to us.”

Reaction to the prices was largely negative, with some Selma residents saying an additional fee would decrease the size of events.

During Friday’s city council work session Bridge Crossing Jubilee organizer Sam Walker spoke out against current pricing methods.

“An additional amount tacked on to what we have already asked our vendors to pay would kill some of the momentum that we are trying to create,” Walker said. “I understand the city is trying to make money, but I think there is a way to be smarter about this. Right now, I think it would be a bad idea to charge these vendors fees every year.”

After Walker’s comments, Ward 3 councilman Greg Bjelke proposed a new, cheaper pricing method.

Bjelke said the sponsor of an event would pay one bulk amount, rather than each vendor paying for a license. For example, event with 1 to 25 vendors would pay $150.

He added that the focus of the proposed prices is not to diminish the quality of events like Market Day or the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, but rather to crack down on peddlers that set up on street corners without a license.

After hearing Bjelke’s idea, Ward 1 councilman Cecil Williamson proposed the public hearing as a way to gauge the opinion of organizations that would be affected.

“I think it’s important to have the organizations that we are going to be charging weigh in and tell us what they think,” Williamson said.

Because no current ordinance exists for vendor or peddler licenses, Mayor George Evans said setting prices is necessary.

“I think vendors do need to pay a fee,” Evans said. “But as for how much they need to pay, I don’t know; that’s something that will have to be decided.”