Bend gas tax debate fact check

Votes for the Bend gas tax will be counted in just one week. On Monday night, Bend Mayor Jim Clinton City Councilor Victor Chudowsky squared off over the proposal live on NewsChannel 21. On Tuesday,, we fact-checked some of the statements they made.

Chudowsky, who opposes the tax, said if the state raises its tax, it will greatly affect the city’s budget.

“If the state raises it’s gas tax by a dime, that brings another $1.5 million into our budget. We never really talked about the possibility of that happening,” Chudowsky said.

Clinton countered, “The city portion of that is not 1.5 million — it’s more like $500,000.”

According to Bend Finance Director Sharon Wojda, the truth to this lies somewhere in the middle. A 10-cent increase to the state gas tax would generate about $730,000 in additional revenues for the city, she said.

Supporting his stance, Chudowsky said the city’s revenue has been booming. He said the last budget passed with double-digit increases in almost every single department — but one, street maintenance.

“This last budget cycle, our general fund went up by $9 million,” Chudowsky said.

According to Wojda, Chudowsky was referring to a two-year budget that is about $9.2 million higher than the 2013-2015 budget year.

Clinton argued that city councilors and budget committees have worked for years trying to find an alternative to the gas tax, but it’s the best option at this point.

“Victor voted for all these budgets, and now we have the problem. So the city council is finally for the first time now taking the bull by the horns, so to speak,” Clinton said.

“Basically, I did not vote for every budget,” Chudowsky said.

Minutes for the city’s budget committee — made up of the seven city councilors and seven citizens — show Chudowsky did vote for the proposed budget, but council meeting minutes later show he did not vote to adopt the budget when it was presented for final approval.