The vote of 2,140 to 740 was a disappointment to current Auditor David M. Cituk, who does not have that certification and was circulating among several polling places Tuesday to campaign against the change.

"The voters have spoken; so let it be," he said Tuesday night as the results came in.

Auditor since 2000, Cituk has never faced any competition and was re-elected to a fourth term last year. The change doesn't take effect until the 2015 election.

Cituk said the city will have to raise the salary before the next election, because it will have a tough time finding a CPA with five years experience to work for his salary of $57,600. City Council froze the auditor's and mayor's salaries until the city gets out of the state's Act 47 financial recovery program.

Cituk said he was uncertain whether he'd try for certification, but he said he is disappointed because Reading now is the only city in the state to require that the auditor is a CPA.

Council got the measure on the ballot after its members said Cituk failed to find a series of problems in city accounting practices.

The current charter language requires the auditor to have a bachelor's degree in business administration, municipal government, accounting, management or related field.