By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – Normal Mayor Chris Koos expected to have more votes than his opponent Marc Tiritilli Tuesday night, but figured that number would be more than seven.

“It did catch me by surprise, I’ll be honest about that,” Koos told WJBC’s Sam Wood. “We thought we were going to win with a larger margin than that. It kind of surprised us that it broke down that way.”

PODCAST: Listen here to Koos’ interview with WJBC’s Sam Wood.

Koos suspects controversy over the MetroZone tax-sharing agreement with Bloomington and incentives provided to the Portillo’s restaurant developer may have concerned some voters.

He also lamented voter turnout of 18 percent, saying local government touches residents more than any other yet receives the fewest votes.

“Our early analysis is that there were some people that stayed home,” Koos said. “It was not an uncommon thing for me that people were saying, ‘You’re going to win handily, it won’t be an issue,’ so we think there might have been some voter complacency.”

“It’s unfortunate the level of turnout of voters for the local election,” Koos lamented. “Forty-five to 50 percent at the national level, 18 to 20 percent at the local level. Local government touches you day to day more than any other form of government, yet gets the least votes.”

Final results from the election may not be determined for two weeks.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].