Two of the three Charter Amendment proposals pushed by the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association were were approved by voters on Tuesday, but the key proposition, which would have allowed voters to overturn the actions of City Council by referendum, was easily defeated, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Proposition A, the referendum drive, lost badly, by almost ten percentage points.
But a measure that will limit pay of future city managers to 10 times the wage of the lowest paid city employee, and limit the city manager's tenure to eight years, the same as a member of city council, was approved.
"What we wanted to make sure was that people were informed about the propositions, and we heard loud and clear that people are concerned about employee salaries," said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who led the Go Vote No effort.
He praised the citizens for defeating Proposition A.
"We will move forward," he said. "We are united for progress in San Antonio. The defeat of propositions A and C are critical to our future."
Nirenberg pointed out that Proposition B will not affect City Manager Sheryl Sculley, whose large salary and the large salary paid to her Assistant and Deputy City Managers, rankled many citizens.
"The implications of Proposition B must be considered, and they will be," Nirenberg said. "We will be undaunted in moving the progress of our city forward, and voters spoke loudly and clearly that they want that progress to continue."
The Go Vote No campaign gathered several community groups and businesses together to campaign especially against Proposition A, which opponents said would tie the city government up in knots by making it easier for voters to challenge everything from the City Budget to water rate increases.
Voters also narrowly approved a measure that will require the firefighters union contract to be decided by an arbitrator. This comes out of an ill considered effort by the City to sue to union to have the ten year 'evergreen clause' in the 2011 contract thrown out.