Some ‘Bend’ (area) residents don’t get to vote on gas tax

Not everybody with a Bend mailing address will get to fill out the ballot bubble in the city’s special election on a 5 cents per gallon gas tax.

“Because I don’t get to vote, I’m really angry about it,” Deschutes River Woods resident Kathleen Chapman said Thursday.

Chapman lives just a few miles south of the city limits. There’s thousands of people like her who can’t vote on the measure, but could be affected by the results.

“I buy my gas in Bend,” Chapman said.

NewsChannel 21 heard that a lot in our visit to communities surrounding the city.

Tumalo resident Ryan Eddy said he goes to Bend all the time — he can’t vote either, but knows exactly how he would, if he could.

“I think the gas tax is a great idea, only because it will go to improve the roads in Bend, which aren’t great anyway,” Eddy said.

The city is pitching the gas tax as a solution to an $80 million backlog in road maintenance. City leaders say the tax would generate $2.5 million a year for projects like road repair, as well as bike lanes and sidewalks.

An average fill-up at the pump would cost drivers an extra 60 cents.

It’s too much, according to Chapman.

“I don’t want to pay a gas tax,” she said. “The roads aren’t being done. They’ve wasted the money.”

But it’s just not a big deal for Eddy.

“Gas is cheap right now anyway,” Eddy said. “It’s not going to make much of a difference.”

Two opinions that will be boxed out of this election, but if you can go to the ballot box (or mailbox), be sure to do so by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8.

As of Thursday evening, about 20 percent of the Bend ballots had been returned, according to the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office.