SELMA, Ala. (WSFA) – The city of Selma has less than a week to pass its fiscal 2023 budget.
Mayor James Perkins and the City Council have been struggling to come to an agreement on specific line items in his proposed budget.
One of those items the mayor has advocated in the budget is a raise for city workers.
“My thing is this $266,000 to get our laborers, our skilled workers, our clerical staff, and our middle management team up to at least approaching a livable wage is not too much to ask for,” Perkins said.
The mayor’s request was met with pushback from some of the council at Tuesday’s meeting.
“If we see that we can increase and we see that revenue has came in, more money has came in, yes, we can get you what you want, but we got to maintain. If anything falls down, whose head is it going to be on?” Ward 7 Councilwoman Jannie Thomas said. “It’s not going to be on the mayor’s head. It’s not going to be on y’all’s head. It’s going to be on this body’s head.”
Perkins reported that in fiscal 2022, 136 out of 145 employees hired had resigned from their positions.
Ward 8 Councilman Michael Johnson agreed with the mayor, saying during the meeting that city workers are doing the work of two to three people trying to maintain the city.
The employees have been doing less work in protest of not receiving what they believe is a livable wage.
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