A public meeting hosted by the Baldwin County Watershed Coalition was held earlier this week at the Foley Civic Center.

This public meeting was held to give citizens the opportunity to learn more about the proposed Amendment 1 that will be on the ballot in Nov. and also give citizens the chance to voice their concerns and have their questions answered.

More than 40 concerned citizens attended the meeting earlier this week.

On Nov. 2, residents in Baldwin County will have the chance to vote on a referendum that some have called a “rain tax.” This referendum will authorize the legislature to provide legislation that will allow a public corporation that will be able to manage storm water in the county and also allow the corporation to collect fees or charges on property owners.

The public meeting began with a presentation by members of the Baldwin County Watershed Coalition. The presentation was aimed towards helping residents understand what passing this referendum would mean and why something has to be done to control storm water and fix the watersheds in Baldwin County.

Almost everyone in attendance seemed to be in favor of something being done to rectify the state of the watersheds in Baldwin County, but when it comes to who should foot the bills and how much each resident’s share of the bill would be it was a different story.

The Baldwin County Watershed Coalition began in 2008 when 12 of the 13 municipalities in Baldwin County joined together to try to do something about the watersheds throughout the county that could not be handled by the municipalities or Baldwin County due to jurisdiction and monetary restraints.

As Baldwin County has grown immensely in recent decades, the growth has also meant that there are more impervious surfaces in the county. Impervious surfaces include rooftops, roads and parking lots.

Said surfaces cause problems because rainwater is not able to make it to the ground where it would be filtered before re-entering the watersheds.

Instead, rainwater is picking up debris, chemicals and dirt and flowing into one of the many waterways that work their way through Baldwin County towards the Gulf of Mexico.

The coalition shared statistics from the EPA, which called polluted storm water the number one threat to the nation’s water quality, and that water from 40 percent of the nation’s waterways is unsuitable for fishing and swimming because of storm water pollution.

 “The economy of Baldwin County is based on water resources,” Rep. Steve McMillan said.

He also said this was made apparent by the impact of the oil spill this summer.

Organizers hoped that those who attended the meeting would leave with a better understanding of the proposed referendum, but most importantly understand that the citizens would have ample opportunities to provide their input on any measures that the public corporation would enact.

A proposed fee structure was also presented at the meeting, along with examples of what certain properties would be charged. One property that was displayed, Foley High School, raised alarm with some of those gathered at the meeting. Under the proposed fees, Foley High School would owe an estimated $2,955 a year, added onto a budget that already has the Baldwin County Board of Education tightening spending as much as possible.

The proposed fee will charge all property owners $12 a year and if the property is made up of more than 10 percent impervious cover, additional charges will be added based upon the excess percentage.

Many of those who spoke out at the meeting were concerned with who was going to pay for these things to be done and how the fees were going to be assessed. One woman said it wasn’t her fault that it rained; it was God’s fault because He makes it rain. She asked why they were going to send her a bill and not send one to God.

Others voiced their concerns that only 80 percent of the fees collected, which is estimated to be near $1.5 million, are guaranteed to be dedicated to projects that will fix the problems. One citizen asked how many employees the coalition would have, and got the answer of probably two.

Twenty percent of $1.5 million is $300,000 a year at the most which could be used towards salaries for two employees and administrative and office fees.

Many of those in attendance agree that something needs to be done, but they also asked where this group of organizers were years ago when everything was being built.

The point was also brought up that there are current regulations in place pertaining to building and drainage that are not enforced, but have added to the watershed issues Baldwin County is currently facing.