News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters City Councilor Jerry Bogart owes more than $38,000 in unpaid taxes dating back to 1997. There are three liens on file at the Deschutes County Recorder's Office.
Bogart told The Nugget that he has filed his taxes each year but that he has been unable to pay them in full. He owes taxes for 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. The lion's share of the tax debt, $23,825, dates to 2006.
"The main thing was, a partnership split up and I got all the taxable income for that year," Bogart said.
Bogart told The Nugget that he has been working on payment plans with the IRS "on and off since 2003" and has paid approximately $12,000 in taxes in recent years.
"The interest and penalties eat up most of the installment payments every time," he said.
He said that 1997's debt of $529 "is cleaned up" though records do not yet show it. He believes other years, working backward from the earliest
debt, are close to being cleared.
"No one wants (me) to pay my taxes more than me," he said. "I can't do anything; I can't get a loan. You can't do anything with that hanging over your head."
Critics, some of whom have anonymously disseminated letters detailing Bogart's tax woes and calls for his resignation, argue that his situation leaves him open to undue influence from the developers and builders who supported his bid for office in November 2008.
Bogart rents office space in FivePine from a partnership including Bill Willitts and Curt Kallberg, major
campaign backers and partners in the McKenzie Meadows property slated for possible annexation by the council on Thursday night. Property owners hope to build a senior living community on the site.
The suggestion of possible undue influence is something Bogart adamantly dismisses. He believes the anonymous critics are seeking to derail the annexation, which he supports.
"I think the real issue is they don't want this annexation and they're doing whatever they have to do to stop it," he said.
Bogart argues that, far from coming under undue influence, he has actually foregone work he desperately needs because of his position on the city council. His firm, Steelhead Construction, can no longer bid to do design work for projects by Willitts or Curt Kallberg, which he has done in the past.
"I'm sure I would have been very competitive to draw the senior center," Bogart said.
"I couldn't bid on those things," he said. "I can't accept jobs like that. I would think that would speak some volumes. If I was in it for the money, I wouldn't be doing this job (city council) because I've lost money doing this job."
Bogart also points out that he has been at loggerheads with other major campaign contributors, Chuck Hoyt and Steve Rodgers, over his support of a gas tax for Sisters.
Bogart said he understands that his tax problems bother some people, especially the fact that he invested in Three Creeks Brewing Co. while he owed the IRS. He said that he put up approximately half of a $28,500 investment with another party in a limited liability corporation (LLC). His contribution was the funds he received from designing the building.
He hoped that the investment would help him recoup his financial fortunes, but the slumping economy put paid to that hope.
Bogart told The Nugget that he has never done anything on behalf of Willitts or any other supporter -
"Never. No quid pro quo" - and that his position on McKenzie Meadows reflects his own belief in the need for aggressive efforts at economic development.
"I think we're fortunate right now to have someone who wants to build in this day and time," he said. "That's unheard of."
He thinks the benefits to the city are great - "just what it is going to do for the city's tax base, what it's going to do for the fees and the SDCs (systems development charges). We're not even close to our budget this year for that, because no one is building. I would support this project no matter who did it."
Bogart says he will not resign.
"I wish these people would sit down with me personally. I'd be happy to sit down with them," he said.
"I don't think this is the way any of us envisioned Sisters politics."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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