They may not have got a bulletin, but they all went to the same place — Bud’s Place.

Three council members looking to buy new tires on the taxpayers’ dime after losing the election, but before losing their perks, all went to fellow Fontana 8 member Bud Polhill’s auto shop.

Polhill bought himself a set of new tires, billed to the taxpayers, from his shop.

Documents obtained from city hall Monday reveal that:

--Stephen Orser bought four tires at $160 each from Bud Polhill Automotive, also known as Bud’s Place, Oct. 30, 2014

--Joe Swan bought four tires at $195 each from Bud Polhill Automotive Nov. 20, 2014

--Sandy White bought four tires at $114 each from Bud Polhill Automotive Nov. 6, 2014

– Bud Polhill bought four tires at $149 each from Bud Polhill Automotive Nov. 18, 2014

The total bill for taxpayers, paid to Polhill Automotive, was about $2,866.

Polhill said Monday there was nothing unseemly about what happened.

“I didn’t put out a bulletin, ‘Come out and get your tires here’,” he told The Free Press. “What they do with the receipt, it’s not up to me. Sandy, Steve needed tires. They paid me with their own credit cards.”

All four councillors got the new tires between their election night defeat Oct. 27 and their last day in office, Dec. 1, raising more than a few eyebrows across the city Monday.

All four were part of the Fontana 8 bloc, led by former mayor Joe Fontana, that decided many key votes the previous council term.

Though Polhill acknowledged the optics look bad, he said he’d never expensed any work previously on his vehicle in his 26 years as a city politician.

“And I’ve worn out a lot of tires doing city business,” he said.

An angry Polhill also said he’s done work on other councillors’ vehicles in the past and has done work for others since the election.

“All of a sudden, I’m a bad guy . . . I followed the rules. If I’d done it two weeks before the election, no one would question it.”

Polhill told The Free Press Monday that he charged the other councillors a fair price for tires, installation and balancing, and didn’t know whether they’d be putting the bill through their city hall account.

A local tire and service dealership reviewed the paperwork from Bud Polhill Automotive and confirmed the tires were priced correctly.

Earlier Monday, Polhill told AM980’s Craig Needles his conscience did bother him.

“I could have put them on six months earlier, but I waited until the end because I didn’t think it was right,” Polhill said. “Then my conscience was bothering me when I did it, but I needed four tires. Other people did exactly the same thing.”

White, Swan and Orser couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.

When news first broke on the weekend that all four had bought tires for their vehicles after the election, Swan told The Free Press he wouldn’t comment on the matter.

With files by Free Press reporters Patrick Maloney and Dale Carruthers?