A major victory tonight for the Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Voters in Springfield have approved a 3/4-cent sales tax.

With all precincts reporting, 55% said yes to 45% who said no.

Springfield leaders had cautious optimism as they gathered and monitored the future of the pension plan and city operation as we know it.

Cheers erupted around 8:40p.m. as final results were posted.

The mayor addressed the crowd thanking the task force fundraisers, City Council, and staff.

He says hard work has left a lot of people in shock tonight.

City Manager Greg Burris offered his thoughts on why this election had different results than February's failed effort. "I think there were three things that changed. One, this was a three-quarter cent sales tax, instead of a one-cent sales tax. Second, the voters knew a lot more about the issue, because there's been a lot of media coverage about this issue since February. And third, I think the Citizens Taskforce, that 16 of their peers who gave up their entire summers to research this issue, hopefully that gave some credibility to the voters that this is the right thing to do, and this three-quarter cents sales tax was their recommendation."

Emergency responders say voters doing the right thing leave them very grateful tonight. They say this does a lot for department moral.

"With that margin, I think it really gives them some air. The community did understand this, they will take care of their firefighters and police officers, and I think that will certainly help us as we try to rebuild now, because we still have difficult times ahead. So I think it will help us through that, but at least we can see, again, that there's good things ahead," said Springfield Interim Assistant Fire Chief David Hall.

Of course there were 45% of voters who said "no" tonight.

City leaders say it's time to earn their trust through accountability.

Tomorrow begins the work of fulfilling seven promises outlined should this sales tax pass.

Just a reminder, the tax doesn't go into effect until April. So, the city still has to survive the current fiscal year with limited sales tax revenues.

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