The Alabama Democratic Caucus held a meeting at City Hall Monday to raise awareness for the upcoming Sept. 18 referendum. The referendum involves citizens voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a constitutional amendment that will allow the state to take money out of an emergency state fund and redistribute it to the general fund in order to cover budget areas that must be cut otherwise.

State funds have been cut substantially since the beginning of 2010. As a result, thousands of state government workers have been laid off. The goal of the referendum is to borrow funds in order to cover expenses that have been cut out of the budget with primary targets including: the police force, prison workers, firefighters, healthcare funding, and education funding.

For more on this continuing story, be sure to pick up a copy of Wednesday’s edition of the Atmore Advance.