A ballot measure that would more than triple the annual salary for Tucson council members and more than double the mayor’s current salary — paving the way for their first raise since 1999 — remains too close to call, according to unofficial results posted late Thursday afternoon.

Proposition 413 would raise the mayor’s annual salary from $42,000 to $95,750, setting the increase at 1.25 times what officials serving on the Pima County Board of Supervisors earn. Current annual salary for supervisors is $76,600 and mandated by state law. City council members would see an increase from $24,000 to $76,600.

Should the Tucson measure pass, council salaries would automatically adjust to conform with any future changes to state-mandated salaries for county supervisors, while the mayor’s salary would increase at 1.25 times that rate, according to official ballot language.

Under Arizona state statutes county supervisors are expected to see a raise in 2025 to $96,600. That means the mayor’s salary would further increase to $120,750 and council members salaries would increase to $96,600.

Updated unofficial election results Thursday showed Prop. 413 passing by a narrower margin than before — 437 “yes” votes. The latest data shows 43,573 voters in favor of the proposition and 43,136 in opposition out of 86,709 votes cast so far.

However, ballots are still being processed by the recorder’s office and the elections department is expecting another batch Thursday night, which they will count Friday, Pima County Elections Director Constance Hargrove told Arizona Luminaria. Hargrove said they are expecting the recorder’s office to turn over about 300 more ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

“We won’t have the final tally until Nov. 15 or 16th according to the City Clerk’s office,” said Council member Kevin Dahl about the pay raise proposition in his ward newsletter.

Elections

Don’t miss the Monday deadline to correct your ballot

The deadline to call the recorder’s office at  520-724-4330 to verify your signature if there is a problem, such as a mismatch, is Monday Nov. 13 at 5 p.m., according to Michael Truelsen, a spokesperson with the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

This year’s election is affected by Veterans Day — the federal holiday lands on Saturday, Nov. 11 and is observed on Friday, Nov. 10. State law mandates that voters have three business days to cure or correct their ballot following an election that does not include a federal office. Truelsen said that the recorder’s office will be closed Friday with no one answering the hotline line, so voters seeking to correct their ballot and have it count should call on Monday before 5 p.m.

Voters can check their ballot status at this link.

The Pima County Recorder’s Office is continuing to process ballots, which are then sent to the Pima County Elections Department for counting. The Elections Department was unable to count ballots on Nov. 8 because the recorder’s office was still verifying signatures, Alex Du Pont, a spokesperson with the the Pima County Elections Department, told Arizona Luminaria.

Du Pont said the elections department received a new batch of processed ballots and updated results Thursday on the election website. The update did not significantly change the elections’ unofficial results released Tuesday night.

About 19,000 ballots left to count

An estimated 19,000 ballots were awaiting processing, according to a Pima County social media post late Wednesday afternoon.

Officials wrote that “all should be processed by the close of business on Thursday.” After which, the elections department will continue counting ballots and updating results through the Veterans Day holiday if needed.

Voters in the comments of the social media post had questions about the election results. Officials clarified that processing by the recorder’s office includes verifying signatures and handling provisional ballots and must happen before the elections department can count ballots.

One person commented, writing that they are eager to know the outcome of how Tucsonans voted on pay raises for the mayor and city council.

This story has been updated to reflect latest election results

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Carolina Cuellar is a bilingual journalist based in Tucson covering South Arizona. Previously she reported on border and immigration issues in the Rio Grande Valley for Texas Public Radio. She has an M.S....