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La Pine becomes Oregon's newest city Thursday Nov 9, 2006 at 2:00 AM Jan 4, 2011 at 9:36 PM LA PINE & La Pine has become Oregon's first new city since the Portland suburb of Damascus joined the ranks in 2004. One other area in the state, Bull Mountain in Washington County, was also deciding whether to join the list of Oregon cities. But that race was still too close to call early Thursday. In La Pine, voters created a Central Oregon city of 7 square miles that has about 2,000 residents and an annual budget of roughly $2.3 million. It was the fourth attempt to incorporate La Pine in the past two decades. The previous effort, in 2000, would have created a larger city & 32 square miles and more than 7,000 residents. Critics or incorporation fear higher taxes and the loss of La Pine's rural character. Supporters said a local government was needed to keep up with increasing demands for services in the growing area. La Pine got its first stoplight two months ago and hundreds of homes are scheduled for construction in the next few years. "After almost 100 years of being here, La Pine can finally steer for itself," said Bob Cox, president of the La Pine Chamber of Commerce. "It has the ability to act on the things important to it." The five La Pine residents who ran for City Council will take office later this month and appoint a mayor from among them at the first meeting. In Bull Mountain, the latest update from Washington County showed a vote of 51 percent against the city and 49 percent in favor. The county still had tens of thousands of votes to count, but it's unclear how many of those ballots contained the Bull Mountain question. "All I can say is we're just going to have to wait and bite our nails and see how it turns out," said Ken Henschel, an incorporation advocate. Phil Decker, who campaigned against the measure as part of the No City Needed political action committee, agreed. "It's not over till it's over," he said. "When it's over is out of everybody's control at this point except the elections office. It's unfortunate that this is taking so long." The results are also being watched closely in Tigard, which made an unsuccessful attempt to annex the mountain in 2004. The relationship between the two communities has been acrimonious for years, with Tigard continuing to annex small portions of the mountain as development occurs.