Voters in the Bexar Metropolitan Water District overwhelmingly approved its dissolution Tuesday.

With all votes counted in Bexar County, 74 percent were in favor of BexarMet becoming part of the San Antonio Water System.

“Golly. Jeepers. I'm really shocked,” BexarMet board President Guadalupe Lopez said.

Final results from BexarMet's service areas within Medina, Atascosa and Comal counties showed 62 percent in favor of dissolution.

“This goes to show the frustration was not just among the chattering classes or the elites,” said Christian Archer, who worked on the campaign for dissolving BexarMet. “This was real people turning out to vote.”

The dissolution will mark the end of the district's 65-year history.

For almost a decade, politicians and ratepayers have pushed to reform BexarMet or dismantle it.

A dissolution vote by ratepayers is an unprecedented occurrence and required special state laws, which took three legislative sessions to pass.

For Sen. Carlos Uresti, who sponsored the bill calling for the election, the decision by the voters was an end to his frustration with the utility.

“Three sessions ago, I stopped the bill and created this legislative oversight committee and said, ‘Let's help them,'” the San Antonio Democrat said. “But they dismissed all of our suggestions.”

Customers on the North Side have been the most dissatisfied with the service.

“It's been too bad for too long,” said Fran Christman, who lives in Stone Oak. He voted and then went to tell his neighbors to do the same, reminding them of the problems they've had with service and water pressure.

More Information Dissolution of BexarMet Total number of votes For: 9,079; 74.3% Against: 3,138; 25.7% Number of votes by county Bexar For: 8,974 Against: 3,074 Atascosa For: 43 Against: 14 Comal For: 48 Against: 37 Medina For: 14 Against: 13 See More Collapse

On the South Side, one voter interviewed stuck by the utility, despite its troubles.

“I want BexarMet,” said Romana Alvarado, who likes having a smaller utility. “We've had it for the longest time. When I die, you can have it.”

But that smaller size, along with disjointed service areas, are among the reasons BexarMet charges more for its water than SAWS and why it has had problems providing water.

Along with higher water rates, BexarMet also had troubles with a steady stream of scandals and embarrassments including two general managers being indicted, employees cheating on basic of certification exams, money being stolen, financial records being altered and the finance director accepting an expense paid trip to Las Vegas from a contractor.

“You just lose trust,” said Eric Gutierrez, who lives on San Antonio's South Side.

BexarMet now will begin a process to become part of SAWS that could take up to five months.

After the board canvasses the results next week, the results will be sent to the U.S. Justice Department. If approved there, which is expected due to the strong vote, the board will be dissolved by state law and SAWS will manage the utility.

That should all occur by Feb. 1.

In the meantime, SAWS will be hosting a meeting Saturday for all BexarMet employees to introduce them to and answer questions about becoming SAWS workers.

By state law almost all BexarMet employees will have their jobs protected for two years.

SAWS anticipates that by this summer, BexarMet's logo will be replaced with SAWS', and customers will be sending their checks to SAWS. In five years the rates of both utilities will be the same.