Selma mayor: City working without a budget

Selma Mayor James Perkins, Jr., says the city has had to start its fiscal year without a budget.

The fiscal year started today, October 1.

Perkins blames city council for failing to pass a balanced budget. Instead, he says the city council passed an unbalanced budget that is not allowed by law and cannot be entered into the city’s computer system.

Perkins said his administration presented the city council a proposed budget on July 5. He says the city council passed its own version of a budget on September 26, with only two working days before the deadline to have a new budget passed.

Perkins says the city council intentionally hid their budget so that there would be no time for his administration to review it and point out any errors or omissions.

He says yesterday was the first time he and department heads had an opportunity to analyze the city council’s version of the budget they passed. He said because the budget isn’t balanced, the city does not have a functioning budget for this fiscal year.

Perkins is calling on the city council meet with his administration to work out the budget issues.

Action 8 News is reaching out to city council to get reaction.