Lee County joined in with much of the rest of the state in voting overwhelmingly to approve an amendment to the Alabama constitution that would move $437 million dollars from the state trust fund to its general fund over three years. This would amount to approximately $145 million per year.
The county voted 7,919 yes to 4,511 no votes.
Lee County is home to 37 precincts, only two of which reported more no than yes votes. The entire state voted nearly 2-to-1 in support of the proposal. The Associated Press reported that 88 percent of precincts had been counted and there were 349,029 yes votes, or 65 percent, and 184,713 no votes, or 35 percent.
Auburn's Mike Hubbard, Speaker of the House, blamed prior governors and legislators for the state's problems. "Democrats created Alabama's deep fiscal problems over several decades, and Republicans can't solve them overnight," he said in a press release. "This temporary transfer will provide us the time needed to fully implement the common-sense, conservative budgeting practices, targeted spending reductions and fundamental government reforms necessary to put Alabama back on the path to prosperity without raising taxes."
Gov. Robert Bentley spoke about the approval as a victory for those who wanted to save certain state-funded programs without raising taxes.
"I want to thank the voters for approving the state's plan to temporarily borrow funds from our savings account to help get us through these difficult economic times without raising taxes," Bentley said in a press release Tuesday night. "Once again, I pledge to the people of this state that the funds transferred to help support critical state services will be paid back."
The state's budgets show the general fund is slated to spend approximately $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2013, beginning Oct. 1. Deep cuts would have occurred if there was a no vote and Bentley and legislators did not find a new source of revenue, like a tax increase.
Many in the health care industry welcomed the yes vote as a victory, while several on the far right decried the governor's campaign for approval as scaring people into voting for something they weren't completely informed about.
"We are pleased that the citizens of Alabama recognize the need to protect pregnant women and children from severe cuts to Medicaid," East Alabama Medical Center President and CEO Terry Andrus told the Opelika-Auburn News. "Now the governor's office, the Legislature, health care providers and the business community can come up with a comprehensive plan to fund Medicaid for the future."
Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) had been imploring people to vote no and said he thought a lot of Alabamians would wake up Wednesday wondering what they'd just approved.
Lee County election officials said 13.5 percent of the county's 92,000 registered voters took part in the referendum. They were happy with this outcome as they said they were expecting a turnout in the single digits.
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