Cornelius’ voter-approved gas tax heads to court

Voters approved the city’s new gas tax by a wide margin in last week’s election, but now the issue will be decided by a judge

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Mar 18, 2010, Updated Mar 19, 2010

Chase Allgood / News-Times

Motorists gassed up in Cornelius Tuesday. If the city prevails in court, anyone pumping in town could pay an extra two-cents-per-gallon at the pump starting April 1.

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Less than a week after voters in Cornelius approved a new two-cent-per-gallon gas tax, the issue is already heading to court.

True to his word, Paul Romain, a veteran lobbyist and executive director of the Oregon Petroleum Association, filed a lawsuit in Washington County Circuit Court on behalf of a Cornelius gas station owner to stop the city from collecting the tax.

Romain said before the election that his group would file suit if the voters said yes. He contends that a legislative moratorium on local gas taxes precludes the city from enacting one.

But Cornelius officials contend that since the city council acted before the legislative moratorium went into effect, the city’s tax will stand a legal test.

And now the city council has a mandate from voters.

About 55 percent of voters, or 690, voted for the tax, while 562, or 45 percent, voted no.

Dave Waffle, Cornelius city manager, said he’s already talking to the Oregon Department of Transportation about collecting the tax. The ODOT Fuel Tax group collects the proceeds of the gas tax levied by Washington County and the city of Tigard.

Waffle said he’s not sure if the summons and lawsuit he received Monday from Romain’s group would need to be refiled since it was marked for Deschutes County.

“Right now we’re proceeding, planning on collecting on April 1,” Waffle said.

The lawsuit sent to Cornelius is virtually the same as one filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court by Romain’s group, opposing a 3-cent-per-gallon tax approved by voters in Sisters, Ore., last week.

Sisters and Cornelius were two of seven cities that had gas taxes on the March ballot, but voters elsewhere turned down the taxes by large numbers.

Now Cornelius and Sisters are hoping to share legal costs in the effort to defend their taxes. Romain’s lawsuit argues that the city acted after the Legislature put in place a limit on local gas taxes.

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