Coastal Alabama could be seeing less money than expected from the BP Oil Spill settlement, as the state announced this week that it did not get the amount it expected from a bond issue.

State officials had hoped to receive almost $640 million from the bond issue backed with the $850 million settlement worked out with BP.

However, now the state only expects to receive almost $610 million from the bond issue, due to an increase in interest rates the bonds will need to pay following the presidential election.

Of that bond money, $400 million is slated to go into the Alabama Trust Fund to pay back transfers made by the state over the last decade and $120 million is dedicated to the state’s Medicaid Agency.

The original legislation crafted had the projected remaining $120 million going to Baldwin and Mobile counties for needed road projects, but due to the crafting of the legislation, that amount will likely be lowered to $90 million.

State Representative Steve McMillan said he and other coastal legislators were frustrated by the change, but said he knew it was a possibility something like this could happen when the deal was made.

“We knew it was sort of a gamble because in order to get this compromise out of the conference committee, we agreed to dissolve some of the extraordinary expense in our portion if they occurred,” McMillan said. “I don’t think any of us expected the sudden uptick in the economy, so it’s a good news, bad news kind of situation - it’s good news that the stock market and the economy are coming back up, but it’s bad news for us that it’s going to cost us money.”

McMillan said the situation was especially frustrating because he and the other coastal legislators had to fight to get any money at all.

“Originally, we had wanted $500 million for our area because we were the part o the state where the oil spill and the economic damage truly occurred,” McMillan said. “We went from that number to $0 once some other legislators got involved, and we were able to go from $0 back up to $120 million. That was still below what we felt we deserved, but at least it was something. To possibly go down to $90 million is disappointing, but at least it’s more than the $0 some of the legislature wanted to give us.”

Of the $120 million originally slated for Mobile and Baldwin counties, $55 million was supposed to go to Baldwin County, where it was to be used for five major construction projects on state roads across the county.

Baldwin County Commission Chairman Chris Elliott said due to the change in funding, at least one of those projects will likely be affected.

“The likelihood of what’s going to happen is that the fifth project on that list, the widening of Highway 181 from 104 to 32, may be significantly affected,” Elliott said. “We’re not certain if this fund reduction means the project will be put on hold or if the specifics will be changed to only widen part of that portion of the road – a lot of the situation is still in the air right now.”

Elliott said he, too, was frustrated by the situation the coastal counties now face.

“It is frustrating on top of frustrating,” Elliott said. “We maintain these are state roads that still need attention, and we hope the state and ALDOT will do their part to make sure these road issues are addressed.”

McMillan said he and other Baldwin County legislators will also work to try to find other funding mechanisms to get the projects completed.

“We’re just going to have to see what we can do,” McMillan said. “We’re going to try and get more money from ALDOT or possibly try to find federal funding to offset the loss we’re seeing here.”