SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - San Diegans and others who donated money to the campaign to recall Mayor Bob Filner could receive a portion of their donation back, according to the campaign's treasurer.
"They gave for the recall to get him out: he's out now and so any money we didn't use is going to go back," said campaign treasurer April Boling.
Boling said that of the $91,000 raised through donations, a little more than half has been spent on the effort to gather tens of thousands of signatures on petitions demanding Filner's recall.
Boling said that the majority of the donations came from individual citizens, who gave on average between $25 and $250. She added that, most likely, donors who gave more than $100 will receive back a sizeable portion of that amount.
Campaign chairman Michael Pallamary thanked dozens of campaign volunteers at what he called a "victory celebration" at a pub in Kearny Mesa on Wednesday evening.
Pallamary said that, once completely tallied, the number of signatures gathered could reach 45,000. He added that the recall effort played a critical role in convincing the mayor to accept a settlement that included his resignation.
"If it wasn't for such as show of force from the community, this could have dragged on," Pallamary said. "San Diego rose in a very powerful way, and (Filner) saw that coming fast... he needed to get out quickly."