Ben McCrory defeated Steve Sears by a margin of nine votes in Montevallo’s mayoral race.

McCrory ended up with 412 votes to Sears’ 403. Election officials did not count four provisional ballots because they wouldn’t have affected the outcome of the runoff.

McCrory said he knew it would be a close race because in the regular election, he and Sears were separated by only 20 votes.

“We knew it was going to be close. It was close last time,” he said. “I’m ready to gather with the council and ready to work hard to move Montevallo forward.”

McCrory said his first priority as mayor is keeping the budget balanced.

“We have a very tight budget, so we have to find ways to raise revenue and continue to do a good job with the budget,” he said.

He said education would also be a priority.

Sears said he wanted to congratulate McCrory on his victory. He said he’s not sure what’s next on his agenda, but he plans to stay involved in city affairs.

McCrory said he’s just glad the race is over.

“It was a hard race. In my opinion, the runoff was even harder,” he said.

Now he’s ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

“Well, I’m very pleased to win and very pleased at how my campaign worked so hard,” he said. “I’m pleased to work on the things I promised the citizens of Montevallo.”