High fuel prices hurt government Portage to be well over budget

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By Mike Sever

Record-Courier staff writer

Rising fuel prices are hitting local governments in the budget just as hard as individuals.

For the first five months of this year, Portage County paid $209,475 for gasoline.

That's about 75 percent of the $280,614 it paid for all of 2007, according to JoAnn Townend, purchasing director for the Portage County Board of Commissioners.

"About 195 vehicles gas up at our motor pool," on S.R. 59 in Ravenna Township, Townend said.

The rising costs have induced county commissioners to have Townend look at smaller, more fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles for future purchases.

As a start to cutting fuel consumption, the county is buying eight of the smaller Ford Fusion as its office car, replacing the larger Ford Crown Victoria and Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Impala.

Commissioners also are looking at cars that use natural gas as a fuel.

"Most of our miles are in-county, delivering papers for the court and such," so refueling isn't a problem, said Commissioner Chuck Keiper.

County Engineer Michael Marozzi said he has already added to his fuel budget after spending about 88 percent in the first half this year. Last year the engineer spent $206,434. He said he's expecting to spend $364,216 this year.

With 370 miles of roadway to maintain and keep clear of winter snow, driving less isn't an option, he said.

"We do have a no-idling policy on trucks and machinery, but we still have to get to the work site," Marozzi said. Summertime roadside mowing was cut from four to three times a year several years ago. He won't reduce it further, "because if we let it grow too high it can be a safety issue for people pulling out of driveways."

His budget comes from fuel tax and license plate fees, "so overages like this come directly out of my capital budget," he said. That means next year's paving program will consist of what's left over from the road maintenance program.

And, while per gallon prices are climbing, the volume being sold is actually down, Marozzi said.

"So people are either buying more efficient cars or they're just cutting back" on driving.

In Ravenna, Finance Director Kimble Cecora said "we're much in the same boat as everyone else."

He's projecting a 5 percent increase over the $138,900 the city paid for vehicle fuel last year. He said volume is down but higher prices are still affecting the budget.

"We've talked about scaling way down to four-cylinder vehicles for use for everyday, basic transport," Cecora said.

The city doesn't replace vehicles that often, but will look at it when the time comes, he said.

Gene Roberts, Kent's service director, said the city began several years ago to downsize its vehicles when possible.

"We're service driven. It's extremely difficult to cut down on trips but we do it wherever possible," Roberts said.

The city also had a policy that vehicles must be turned off when unoccupied, except in special circumstances such as traffic control.

Roberts said the city takes a long-term approach to its fleet management to select more fuel efficient vehicles. There has been discussion about hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles.

"But we have to look long-term. We typically keep vehicles 7 to 10 years, so two years of maintenance experience (on hybrids) isn't enough."

Roberts said he and his chief mechanic would like to see more repair history on hybrids to know what the total anticipated operating cost might be.

"We're not against the idea of buying them, we'd just like to know more," he said.