The votes
| Decision | Kebler (Mayor) | Norris | Franzosa | Perkins | Platt | Méndez | Riley |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Created the road fee on utility bills, not put to voters (Apr. 3, 2024) | yes | yes | not on council | yes | not on council | yes | yes |
| Nearly doubled the road fee, $5.60 to $10.50 a month (May 7, 2025) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gas-appliance fee on new homes, final vote (June 17, 2026) | absent (excused) | recused | yes | no | yes | yes | yes |
| $10.6 million Jackstraw tax break (Jan. 3, 2024) | yes | yes | not on council | yes | not on council | yes | no |
| $17.95 million PacificSource building and up to $25 million in bonds (Sept. 16, 2026) | yes | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Committee code: public comment "not required" (June 3, 2026) | yes | absent (excused) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Up to $154.6 million in city bonds, not referred to voters (2023, 2025, 2026) | Yes (2023); Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2023); Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2023); Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2023); Yes (2025); Yes (2026) | Yes (2023); Yes (2025); Yes (2026) |
"Recused" means the member stepped aside for a conflict of interest, as Oregon law requires. "Not on council" means they hadn't been elected yet. Tap a decision for the details and sources.
The details
Created the road fee on utility bills, not put to voters (Apr. 3, 2024)
On April 3, 2024 the Bend City Council voted 7-0, without a public vote, to create a Transportation Fee on city utility bills. Starting with bills after July 1, 2024, it charged $5.60 a month for single-unit accounts, $4.15 per unit for multi-unit accounts, $2.80 for households on Utility Billing Assistance, and $3.00 to $6.25 per 1,000 square feet for most businesses, with a $5 million first-year revenue target.
The vote: Passed 7-0 on a roll call vote on April 3, 2024 (Regular Session, item 7). Councilor Megan Norris moved and Mayor Pro Tem Megan Perkins seconded. No one voted no, abstained or recused. Councilor Barb Campbell was excused from the earlier work session but joined the regular session online at 7:10 p.m., before this item, and is listed as voting yes. Former councilors: Former Councilor Barb Campbell: yes; Former Councilor Anthony Broadman: yes.
Their side: The city's position is that this is legally a fee for a city service, like sewer and stormwater charges, not a tax, so it did not need a public vote. Central Oregon Daily reported that residents did not get to vote on it and quoted Mayor Kebler: "The reason we're calling it a fee is because that's what it is legally."
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]Nearly doubled the road fee, $5.60 to $10.50 a month (May 7, 2025)
On May 7, 2025 the Bend City Council voted 7-0 to set Phase 2 Transportation Fee rates, starting July 1, 2025. The fee for a single-unit home went from $5.60 to $10.50 a month (up 87.5%). Multi-unit homes went from $4.15 to $7.75 per unit, and households on utility billing assistance went from $2.80 to $5.25. The city's goal is about $10 million a year, double Phase 1's roughly $5 million.
The vote: Passed 7-0 on a voice vote recorded by name in the minutes. Mayor Pro Tem Megan Perkins moved it and Councilor Mike Riley seconded it. It was a single resolution: there was no first or second reading, and no other vote on this item that night. Rates took effect July 1, 2025. The council approved these minutes on June 4, 2025 as consent agenda item 4.A(a). Perkins moved and Mendez seconded that approval, which passed 7-0.
Their side: City staff (Grayson, Hutson) said on the record that a phased fee was the plan from the start. They said the Phase 2 rates came out of council and committee input and public outreach events. The fee pays for maintenance, operations, repair, preservation, safety and transportation programs. COO Russ Grayson told KTVZ: "it's a community effort, needed to help support the system that supports the community." The only person who spoke at the hearing was Sara Odendahl for the Bend Chamber of Commerce. She praised the process and the balance between home and business fees, but still had concerns about high fees for manufacturing. Councilors' own explanations: Mendez wanted other funding options and discounts for people who drive less in Phase 3. Kebler wanted state help to make tourists pay. Riley said lodging and short-term-rental fees already capture visitors and a gas tax would capture out-of-city drivers. Later, on Sept. 10, 2025, the council paused Phase 3 indefinitely, according to the city's Transportation Fee page.
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]Gas-appliance fee on new homes, final vote (June 17, 2026)
Bend adopted a "Climate Pollution Fee" that builders pay when a new home is built with gas appliances. It passed 4-1 on June 17, 2026, with Perkins voting no, Norris recused and Mayor Kebler gone for the vote. It starts April 1, 2027. OPB and KLCC reported the fee can be up to $2,972 per new home. The Bulletin reported about $2,100 for a typical mid-sized all-gas home, more than $1,500 of it for the furnace. The final amounts will be set by a later council resolution.
The vote: PASSED. Final adoption on June 17, 2026 was a roll call vote, 4-1. Yes: Franzosa, Méndez, Platt, Riley. No: Perkins. Norris was recused. Mayor Kebler was excused: she left the meeting at 9:41 p.m., and the item came up around 10:01 p.m. Councilor Platt moved and Councilor Riley seconded. Earlier votes: Feb. 18, 2026 voice vote passed 5-1 (Yes: Kebler, Franzosa, Méndez, Riley, Platt; No: Perkins; Norris recused; Platt moved, Riley seconded). June 3, 2026 first reading passed 5-1 by roll call (Yes: Kebler, Franzosa, Méndez, Platt, Riley; No: Perkins; Norris recused and left the dais at 7:08 p.m.; Platt moved, Riley seconded). The fee takes effect April 1, 2027. The dollar amounts have not been adopted yet. Staff plans a work session in February 2027 and a fee-schedule resolution in March 2027.
Their side: Supporters said the fee only affects new construction and leaves existing homes alone. They said it puts a price on carbon from gas appliances that stay in service for decades. Riley at adoption, per the Bulletin: fuel choices in new homes "are with us for the next 15, 20, 25 or even more years." Revenue goes into a Climate Pollution Fund for climate-impact costs and building decarbonization. Councilors described the fee as a compromise, set at 20% of the maximum after many residents asked for a higher fee. Platt and Riley both said they wanted a stronger fee. Supporters said the policy will be reviewed every year and can change, and staff said fees could drop if electricity turns out more carbon-intensive than assumed. Méndez backed using the money for job training. Kebler said that because Bend is building many new homes, it matters how they are built. The one no vote, Perkins, said the assumptions were unproven and that grid capacity, clean power, extreme-weather reliability and workforce-housing costs were concerns: "Until we know our grid is clean and has capacity, I don't think we should be taking this step" (Bulletin). Opponents who testified asked for a delay or a pilot program: the Cascade East Association of Realtors, the Central Oregon Builders Association (which asked for a middle-housing exemption), and several residents. Cascade Natural Gas and Central Electric Cooperative warned about construction and electric-rate costs.
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]$10.6 million Jackstraw tax break (Jan. 3, 2024)
On Jan. 3, 2024 the Bend City Council voted 5-1, with Broadman recused, to approve a 10-year property-tax exemption for the 313-unit Jackstraw apartment project. City staff estimated the exemption at about $10.6 million. Staff projected the project would pay about $1.1 million in property taxes over fiscal years 2027-2036 with the exemption and about $11.7 million without it. Construction began in April 2023, before the June 2023 application.
The vote: PASSED 5-1, with 1 recusal (Broadman), on a voice vote. Perkins moved and Norris seconded. This was a resolution, so there was one vote and no first or second reading. The minutes record: "Voice Vote - Mayor Kebler, Councilors Campbell, Riley, Perkins, Méndez, Norris Yes 5 No 1 (Councilor Riley opposed)." Former councilors: Former Councilor Barb Campbell: yes; Former Councilor Anthony Broadman: recused.
Their side: City staff (Issue Summary and Exhibit A staff report):
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]$17.95 million PacificSource building and up to $25 million in bonds (Sept. 16, 2026)
The council voted to buy the four-story, 70,000-square-foot PacificSource office building on NE Conners Ave. for $17.95 million as city offices, and to borrow up to $25 million for the purchase plus moving, furniture and remodeling. City staff estimated about $1.6 million a year in debt payments at 5% interest, plus $1 million to $1.5 million a year to run the building once staff move in. Part of that is offset by the roughly $400,000 a year the city now pays to rent the Wall Street Annex, and by PacificSource's rent until its lease ends in December 2028. Staff said it would need no new taxes, fees or utility rate increases.
The vote: Both passed.
Their side: Supporters' case, from the city staff report and the meeting itself:
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]Committee code: public comment "not required" (June 3, 2026)
In a broad update of the city's advisory-committee code, the Bend City Council changed the line that committee meetings "shall be" an opportunity for public involvement to "are". It also added that public comment "is not required by this chapter". The ordinance passed 7-0 on first reading (May 20, 2026) and 6-0 at adoption (June 3, 2026, with Norris absent). The staff report says it has "no budgetary impacts", and committees keep the choice whether to take public comment.
The vote: ADOPTED. On June 3, 2026, item 10 (second reading and adoption) passed 6-0 by roll call. Mayor Pro Tem Perkins moved and Councilor Platt seconded. Councilor Norris "had left the meeting" before this vote. Earlier, on May 20, 2026, item 5 (first reading) passed 7-0 by voice vote. Perkins moved and Riley seconded. The minutes say the TMAC renaming was treated as a moved-and-seconded amendment before that vote.
Their side: Staff's Issue Summary (City Attorney Ian Leitheiser) gives the reasons as: updating AHAC, BEDAB and TBOC/TMAC at the request of those committees and the council, and removing repeated administrative provisions "to provide for ease and consistency in administration of committees." It reports no budget impact. The May 20 slide deck lists only "General updates made for consistency across all code sections." A city email quoted by The Bulletin (May 27, 2026 editorial) said committees "have never been required to have public comment," that the change does not alter their flexibility to allow it, and that it aligns city code with state law. The May 27 editorial agreed those points were correct but still found the wording change noteworthy. The Bulletin reports that Mayor Kebler wrote that its editorial "got it wrong." Note: The Bulletin's first editorial (May 25) described committees as no longer being required to offer public comment. The city and the later editorial both say committees were never required to offer it.
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]Up to $154.6 million in city bonds, not referred to voters (2023, 2025, 2026)
Over three years the council unanimously approved up to $154.6 million in city borrowing, with no public vote: up to $40.1M (2023), $105M (2025) and $9.5M (2026). The money went mainly to the new Public Works Campus at Juniper Ridge (about $13.6M for design in 2023, $81.46M for construction in 2025 and $2.45M for completion in 2026), plus road projects, stormwater work, vehicles, land in the core area, urban renewal projects and an airport control-tower match. The city's general funds are pledged to guarantee repayment, but staff said most payments would come from fees, departmental charges and urban renewal revenue rather than new taxes.
The vote: All three passed 7-0 by voice vote, with no no votes, abstentions or absences recorded. 2023: yes votes from Kebler, Campbell, Broadman, Perkins, Méndez, Riley and Norris. 2025: yes votes from Kebler, Franzosa, Méndez, Riley, Perkins, Norris and Platt. 2026: yes votes from Kebler, Franzosa (attending online), Méndez, Norris, Perkins, Platt and Riley. On March 4, 2026, Norris had stepped away for the tree-code item before this one. The minutes say she came back at 6:51 p.m., before item 6, and voted yes. The city's May 2025 monthly financial report says $97 million was actually borrowed under the 2025 approval. I did not find the actual amounts borrowed under the 2023 and 2026 approvals.
Their side: The minutes record no statement from Perkins. Staff and the city's documents argue the following. (1) Voters had a check. Each resolution required a published notice and a 60-day window in which petitions from 5% of Bend voters would have put the bonds on the ballot (ORS 287A.150; issue summaries and resolutions for all three). (2) The amounts are caps, not the amount borrowed. Part of each could be used to refinance older debt if that saved money. The city borrowed $97M of the $105M approved in 2025. (3) The projects were already in the adopted budgets: the 2023-25 budget for the 2025 bonds and the 2025-27 budget for the 2026 bonds. In 2025, CFO Samantha Nelson said the money would repay the city for projects "already underway in construction." (4) Who pays it back: staff said the departments using the money would repay it. That means transportation fees (system development charges) and water/sewer franchise fees for roads, stormwater fees for stormwater, payments from the departments moving into the Public Works Campus, and urban renewal tax-increment money for urban renewal projects. In 2026 staff said none of that issue was expected to be repaid from the general fund. (5) In 2023, Finance Director Janette Townsend noted the city's AA bond rating. She also explained that this debt is different from the voter-approved transportation GO bond.
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]To be fair: every one of these votes was legal, and members with conflicts announced them. Each bond authorization had a 60-day window for residents to petition for a public vote under state law (ORS 287A.150). Councilor Perkins voted no on the gas-appliance fee, and Councilor Franzosa cast the only no vote on the PacificSource building.
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See also: How the council voted (petition page) · Mayor Kebler's record · Councilor Norris · Bend's leaders and HB 4177 · Rep. Emerson Levy