SELMA, Ala. (AP) - A three-decade tradition is in danger in Selma, where a dispute over city fees is prompting organizers to cancel a major Civil War re-enactment that brings tourists to town each spring.
Organizers of the Battle of Selma battle re-enactment said Wednesday the four-day event won’t be held this year because municipal officials wanted to impose new fees on the event.
The Selma Times-Journal (https://bit.ly/2kVFIea) reported the city asked the nonprofit group that stages the re-enactment, The April 1865 Society, to pay more than $22,000 for city services including police and fire protection.
A letter from City Hall said the city can’t cover the costs because of the economy, and Mayor Darrio Melton said the request reflects a change in city policy. But the request came on short notice, and organizers can’t afford to pay the money, which would amount to a 76 percent budget increase, said James Hammonds, the president of the society.
“We’re very sorry that it came to this, and we’re disappointing a lot of people by doing it. I only hope that the city will show enough support for the battle and maybe enough people with influence on the mayor can go to him and tell him it is actually a good economic thing for the city.”
The event, which brings thousands of people to the city each year, was set for April 20-23.
The Battle of Selma wasn’t the only big event coming up in the city, with the annual commemoration of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march schedule for the first week of March.
The founder of the annual Bridge Crossing Jubliee, Faya Toure Sanders, said the city wanted her group to pay for services as well.
“They’ve been asking us to do that for years and what I’m saying is I don’t need their police protection, they can keep their police protection,” Sanders said. “As much as I dislike the Battle of Selma, the truth is it brings in tourism, and I think it is just a disservice to those institutions that are trying to grow tourism for them to charge us for police and fire protection.”
Sanders said the Nation of Islam and private security company have committed to provide security for the Jubilee instead of paying for city services.
Mayor Darrio Melton said the city “can’t continue to put taxpayers on the hook for the full cost of these events, which causes a hemorrhaging of our budget.”
“We want all events to operate, but across the board we are not going to use taxpayers’ money to subsidize private events, and that’s our policy moving forward,” he said. “We’ve got to be responsible stewards of the resources the taxpayers are giving to us.”
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