BAY MINETTE — Baldwin County voters will decide the fate of a  1-cent sales tax referendum election approved Tuesday by the Baldwin County Commission to assist the financially strapped public school system.

After hours of deliberation at a work session, commissioners unanimously approved the referendum and set a tentative March election date.

The Baldwin County Board of Education requested a March election to provide time for a countywide, grass-roots initiative to garner public support.

The election will cost county taxpayers about $100,000.

If approved, the BOE will receive about $25 million a year for the three-year life of the proposal.

Traci Roberts, BOE president, said the tax proposal would provide temporary funding in the wake of decreasing sales and ad valorem revenues. The school system depends heavily on volatile sales tax receipts.

“I don’t think it was ever the intention of the board to have a permanent tax,” Roberts said. “We will seek additional ad valorem taxes.”

Commissioner David Ed Bishop said a three-year taxing limit would be most favorable to the public.

“The public perceives a crisis and they want to help the school system get over it,” Bishop said. “But they don’t want the tax to continue from now on. That’s my gut feeling. In the end, we need to do something people want to do.”

Jean McCutcheon, chief financial officer for the BOE, said the additional funding will reduce additional personnel layoffs, which now  number in the hundreds, while alternative funding is sought.

She said federal stimulus funding ends in 2012, and economic conditions in 2013 are unpredictable.

School officials said the educational system would be $25 million short over the next three years if the referendum fails.

If it passes, the $50 million will go to current deficits, restore critical needs such as safety issues — adding nurses and revitalizing the aging bus system —  and ensuring adequate classroom instruction.

In a work session prior to the vote, commissioners tabled two other options involving a land lease and a grant to the BOE, each totaling $5 million. Those proposals will be reviewed during a joint work session between the two groups Friday at 9 a.m. at the Baldwin County Central Annex in Robertsdale.

Prior to the vote, Gary Branch, president of Faulkner State Community College, asked commissioners to revise the resolution to include the two-year college, saying the two educational outlets were closely linked in course offerings and services.

That request was denied.