Mayor Bob Walkup will have another Republican to work with on the City Council come December.
Steve Kozachik's lead over incumbent Ward 6 Democrat Nina Trasoff widened Thursday to 1,675 votes, all but locking up the win after the county election department processed nearly 9,000 outstanding early ballots.
Ben Buehler-Garcia is still trailing incumbent Democrat Karin Uhlich, but by only 246 votes. But considering Uhlich has never been out of the lead since the vote count started, Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers declared a win for his candidate. Both candidates have said they will reserve comment until the count is complete.
Trasoff, who was out of town on vacation and reached between flights, said she was not prepared to say anything other than, "It's been a tremendous honor to serve as a council member for the last four years."
Kozachik, who helps oversee the construction of athletic facilities for the University of Arizona, did not receive a concession phone call from Trasoff before she left but is already getting an early start on forming his staff, saying he wants to tap someone well-connected to small business as well as someone who can have a strong relationship to the neighborhoods surrounding the university.
He said he plans to ask sitting council members to come meet him for coffee one-on-one to try to establish some rapport.
On the issues, he said, his first order of business will be pushing for a speedy completion of an audit of the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment project. He wants to revisit the $1 bed tax the council passed this year to help close the budget shortfall, saying it hurts tourism in exchange for a relatively small return. And he remains concerned about the financial viability of the proposed Convention Center hotel, especially since he isn't convinced the city is doing a thorough cost-benefit work-up of the project.
Rogers was saddened by Trasoff's exodus from the immediate political scene. "You may disagree with her policy positions, but she was someone who was excited to be working for Tucson and excited to serve in that position."
It also is clear now that the city will not have an additional $21 million to work with, since voters refused to lift the state-imposed spending cap under Proposition 400. Although the percentages remain close, at 49 percent to 51 percent, nearly 800 votes would be required to shift that race over, which is a steep hill to climb.
Walkup said it was a mistake on the city's part to focus so heavily on educating the public on the impact of the public safety initiative, while not making sure voters understood the impact of 400, especially with a looming deficit.
The elections department still has 3,400 problem ballots left to count, although the rule of thumb is that 25 percent of those won't end up being valid.
