Most people are feeling the strain of rising fuel prices. For Bedford County School transportation, it’s some of the highest prices they’ve seen in years.
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Most people are feeling the strain of rising fuel prices. For Bedford County School transportation, it’s some of the highest prices they’ve seen in years.
“I have almost gone through my budget, and I am not three-quarters of the way through the school year,” said BCS transportation supervisor Kenny Parker.
“We’ve spent almost as much today as we spent for the whole year last year,” Parker said. In his eighth year with BCS, Parker said this is about as bad as it’s ever been as fuel has increased almost $1.30 per gallon.
At Tuesday night's monthly County financial management committee meeting, County finance director Robert Daniel went through the travel/in-service budgets. For one of the General-Purpose School fund accounts, diesel used 144.55 percent of its budget. The budget was $12,500 but over $18,000 was actually used.
Parker said all buses use diesel. Buses get around seven miles to the gallon, so they fuel the tanks at least twice a week, he said.
According to transportation secretary Tonya Riddle, the number of gallons used per month fluctuates around the average 10,800 gallons. They’ve spent over $35,000 on fuel this month.
The County does not store its own fuel, according to Mayor Chad Graham. Parker said they would not be able to store that much fuel.
Other departments outside of the school system have seen effects of the rise in fuel prices. Travel for Circuit Court used 91.28 percent of its $1200 budget, while Animal Control used 100 percent of its $3500 gasoline budget.
“Fuel is eating us up,” said Commissioner Linda Yockey at Tuesday’s meeting.
The finance committee meeting will have to work on an amendment from another line or fund balance (i.e., reserves), according to Daniel. He assured they will not be cutting any other expenses at this time to make up for the increasing prices.
The committee aims for three amendments every year. This amendment will be the last one of the year and be enacted in June after the committee and school system have worked out exactly how much estimated fuel will be used for the rest of the year.
For now, Parker said they will have to “bite the bullet” like everyone else as crude oil reaches nearly $100 per gallon.
“Public school transportation is the only way some kids get to school...If our budget is being hit with the school board, you know the parents’ budget is also being hit with fuel consumption. We all have to bite the bullet,” he said.
