A.E. Araiza / Arizona Daily Star

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Tucson's civic and business leaders breathed a big sigh of relief Tuesday as voters handily defeated Proposition 200 — a wide-ranging initiative opposed by most business interests that would have repealed the city's $14 garbage fee and limited new water connections.

The measure authored by former state lawmaker John Kromko was slammed by voters 72 percent to 28 percent. Although 9,000 early and provisional ballots remain to be counted today, that number isn't enough to change the outcome.

Business interests poured more than $700,000 into defeating the measure and nearly every public official in the region opposed it.

If approved, it would have repealed the city's $14 garbage pickup fee, prohibited water derived from effluent from ever being delivered to Tucson Water customers and prevented new water connections once growth outstrips the reliable water supply — which would occur either in two years or 12 years, depending on how the initiative is interpreted.

"To me a victory would have been 60 percent, anything over that I think is a very strong victory," said Larry Hecker, a spokesman for the No on 200 committee.

Carol Zimmerman, a pollster for the anti-200 committee, said while growth and water are big issues, this measure was not the answer. "We've heard loud and clear that people are concerned, and we also heard loud and clear that this is not it," she said.

Business and real estate interests raised more than $725,000 through Oct. 17 to fight the ballot measure — a number that is sure to rise once the final numbers are available after the election.

That led Kromko to contend the business community and the city bought the election, using their money to distort what his initiative was about.

"One thing you do to defeat an initiative is you sow confusion and doubt," Kromko said.

Green Party mayoral candidate Dave Croteau , who failed in his attempt to unseat the mayor, said, "The amount of money and propaganda put into this was successful."

More than 26 percent of the city's registered voters cast ballots, not including those that remain to be counted. Highlighting a trend toward early voting, those casting mail ballots outnumbered those who made the trip to the polls on election day by a better than 3-to-2 ratio — a first for the city, said City Clerk Kathy Detrick.

During the campaign, many politicians said the growth and water issues Kromko raised were legitimate, although they said Kromko's ballot measure wasn't the answer.

The question now is whether the region's elected officials will do anything about water and growth after the measure was trounced by voters.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said the council's advantage is "everybody is so deeply focused on these issues" it could be possible to get things done about water. Uhlich said she wants to explore ways to prevent new wells from being drilled into the regional aquifer.

Richard Elías, chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors said he wants a regional water authority to be formed. He said water and growth issues need to be dealt with. "We have no choice because every single issue in Proposition 200 needs to be addressed," he said.

Kromko was highly skeptical any action would be taken.

"Nothing's going to happen now," Kromko said. "These guys don't have the courage to do it."

Kromko said he is unsure whether he will rewrite the measure and try to put it on the ballot again. He said he was thinking his next initiative would be to put term limits on council seats.

The initiative would have forced the city to immediately repeal the $14 garbage fee, cutting $24 million from city revenues.

The city would have been prevented from ever delivering reclaimed sewage water to homes or recharging it into wells for underground storage. Direct delivery of effluent to homes is prohibited by state law, but treating effluent and pumping it into the ground to mix with groundwater is legal, and was once considered by Tucson Water until community opposition pushed it off the table.

The measure also would have required the city to stop new connections when the estimated demand for water reaches the reliable supply — which the initiative defines as 140,000 acre-feet per year. This provision brought out the builders and growth lobby opposition because it would have stopped the construction of new homes once the cap was hit.

Lawyers for the opponents and the city contended Kromko used language in his measure that would have had to be settled in court because the terms were vaguely defined in state water law — a position supported by many independent water experts.

Mayor Bob Walkup said the measure failing was "critical to our future."

"We'll have a chance to plan for our future. A yes vote would have stopped us in our tracks," Walkup said. "We need to pull people together and address these issues."