Soaring Gas Prices Pinch Bend’s Pocket, Too

The dreaded $4 mark for a gallon of regular gas was reached in Bend on Friday. People filling up their tanks and Bend city officials said the price at the pump is already starting to take its toll.

Drivers may feel pain at the pump every couple weeks, but city officials have to fill up dozens of vehicles every day.

At one northwest Bend gas station, a gallon of regular cost $4.07. Across the street, it cost $4.05.

Across town, city managers held a retreat Friday to talk various fiscal issues — and fuel costs were a key topic.

“We weren’t anticipating gas prices to go this high,” said city Public Works Director Paul Rheault. “I mean, you can do a budget one of two ways. You can plan for the worst, or you can go somewhere in the middle.”

The city chose to budget “somewhere in the middle,” he said, because at the time, gas prices had pretty much stabilized. But now, they have to fill up fire engines, police cars, and snow plows with gas that is already past the $4 mark.

“That’s a safety and health issue,” Rheault said. “I mean, you have to plow the roads. Regardless of what the gas prices are, you got to make sure that especially our public safety fleet, both police and fire, can get around safely.”

The city official said safety is one place they won’t skimp on. But they are looking at cutting back on other projects, like overlay or chip-sealing work to improve roads.

Many drivers in Bend said if the gas prices get any higher, they’re going to have to make major changes, too.

“I think I would have to start carrying my bike around,” said one person filling up his pump. “I’d park in a central location and start riding my bike, because I can barely afford it now.”

Another person traveling through Bend said, “It’s never going back down to $1 a gallon, it’s never going to go back to $2 a gallon. We need to get off this fossil fuel business and figure something else out.”

Despite the soaring prices, AAA officials in Bend said many people are still planning to get out of town for Spring Break.

“People aren’t grumbling about it too much though, surprisingly,” AAA Bend Supervisor Cecilia Lee said. “I think it’s just like one of those things again, like last summer when things spiked, and it’s already spiked, pretty much.”

Travel experts said planning far in advance is key. But when people can’t predict the price at the pump, “fun money” can quickly turn into gas money.