June 25, 2000
County agencies forced to cope with gas prices
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
The recent surge in gas prices has forced governments and agencies across the county to cope &emdash; or prepare to cope &emdash; as best they can.
While budgets for gasoline generally have more money in them than the agency or government expects to spend, budgets drawn up with projections based on fuel prices in late 1999 are now in danger of running out of money before the end of the year.
"This year, we estimated high," Bryan Glover, director of the Commission on Aging, said, "and I think we'll come in high."
While Tiffin's services will not be decreased, City Administrator Wayne Stephens said, the jump in fuel costs "will certainly have a bad effect on our budget."
While no action has yet been taken by the city, Stephens said the issue will be discussed at the next meeting of department heads.
The price the county pays for gasoline is double what it was a year ago. The county already has moved more money into its gasoline fund. Thursday, the Seneca County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution increasing the fund by $50,000.
The county engineer purchases the county's gasoline in bulk. The county's offices repay the engineer on a monthly basis for the fuel their vehicles use.
Sheriff H. Weldin Neff said he has requested that deputies on road patrol keep their cruisers stationary for 15 minutes out of each hour.
"It doesn't help a whole lot," Neff said, "but it helps a little."
Groups like the Commission on Aging and the Seneca County Agency Transportation that provide transportation for county residents also are beginning to feel the effects of higher fuel costs.
"We're hurting for certain," said SCAT director Pat Demonte.
Demonte said the agency likely will have to increase its fees to offset the higher cost of gasoline.
While she hopes any increase would be temporary, "we're going to have to see what happens at the pumps."
Glover called current fuel costs "a tremendous problem."
"Whether gas is high or not, people still have to go to the doctor," he said.
To economize, the commission is scheduling as many trips at the same time as it can and using its cars rather than its vans, "anything to squeeze another gallon," he said.