Driven to conserve: City, county fuel budgets are burned

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Las Vegas city work crews that regularly travel to job sites in separate vehicles are relying more on car pools.

Metro Police is keeping some of its patrol cars longer than anticipated, and Citizen Area Transit is not operating as many bus routes as it would like.

Those are among the consequences local governments are facing in light of rising motor vehicle fuel prices in Southern Nevada. Even though their fiscal years end June 30, Clark County and Las Vegas exceeded their fuel budgets by April 30. So did the Clark County School District. Metro Police is on pace to surpass its fiscal year gasoline budget this month.

Capt. Randy Oaks of Metro's general services bureau said the police department by April 30 had spent 93 percent of its current $2 million fuel budget. Metro is staring at a projected $256,000 shortfall by June 30, he said.

"It's like the stock market," Oaks said. "You can never be right in guessing what the prices will do."

Regular unleaded gasoline in Las Vegas has gone from $1.60 a gallon in January to an average $1.82 this week, said Jack Greco, chairman of the Nevada Gasoline Retailers Association.

"I would hope it would still stay under $2 a gallon this summer," Greco said. "To predict prices you really need a crystal ball. The price of gasoline is not a (sacred) thing that is related to supply and demand."

Discount prices

Local governments pay less than individual consumers for fuel because they are not charged the federal gasoline tax. That tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, goes into the highway trust fund to help build and repair the nation's interstate system. Government users also get discounts for bulk fuel purchases.

But even their discount prices have risen to a point in which some have dipped into contingency funds to preserve essential services.

Clark County spokesman Doug Bradford said the commission will be asked at its June 5 meeting to allocate close to $305,000 in contingency funds to keep the county's 2,091 vehicles fueled through June 30. The county budgeted $1.35 million for fuel this year but spent more than $1.5 million by April 30.

The county was paying a bulk discount price of $1.02 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in June but saw that price climb to $1.20 in April and $1.49 this week, Bradford said. That's a 46 percent increase since last year.

"What we're doing is relying more on energy fuel conservation," Bradford said. "We always ask our people to avoid speeding because that eats up gas. Rapid starts also eat up gas. We don't want people idling their vehicles.

"We also encourage them to consolidate trips and ride-share as much as possible."

The city of Las Vegas, which operates 917 vehicles, budgeted $650,000 for fuel through June 30 but spent close to $900,000 by April 30 and is budgeting $1.275 million next fiscal year, vehicle services manager Dan Hyde said. Hyde said the higher spending was caused by a combination of rising fuel prices and an increase in the size of the city's fleet.

To help cover rising fuel prices, the city is delaying the purchase of new vehicles, among other things. Work crews that repair roads and maintain parks are also being encouraged to carpool.

"When people go to job sites as a team, you save money," Hyde said.

Growing fleet

Henderson's fuel budget rose from $668,000 last year to $845,000 this year and will be at least $895,000 next year, said Bob Murnane, public works director. Rising fuel costs and a growing fleet, which now numbers 690 vehicles, have contributed to that increase.

So has Henderson's rapid growth, which means city employees must travel greater distances to do their jobs.

"We read the paper and watch the news like everyone else and have the same level of uncertainty about gas prices," Murnane said. "We've got to be more conscious of our energy consumption."

Henderson City Manager Phil Speight sent all city employees a memo April 24 in which he urged energy conservation.

"Carpool whenever possible, plan trips," he wrote. "Operate vehicles efficiently; obey speed limits."

North Las Vegas has managed to remain within its fuel budget, but assistant public works Director Ray Burke said that if gasoline hits $2.50 to $3 a gallon, as some have predicted, "it will be a different story."

All 295 CAT buses operate on diesel fuel, which is far less expensive than unleaded gasoline, largely because it costs less to refine. But diesel fuel prices have been rising, too. Within the past week alone, CAT's fuel prices have risen from 87 to 93 cents per gallon, Regional Transportation Commission spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said.

Reisman said the bus service, which consumes about 16,000 gallons of diesel fuel daily, is anticipating that diesel prices could rise an additional 10 cents per gallon by summer but will level off thereafter. If fuel costs continue to rise faster than expected, she said one alternative could be the elimination of little-used routes.

"Because we've had to budget for additional fuel costs it is limiting our ability to expand services," Reisman said. "We've wanted to expand the number of routes and also expand the frequency of some of our routes."

The school district had budgeted $1.05 million for fuel through June 30 but spent $1.14 million by April 30 and also has had to dip into contingency funds. But financial analyst Jim Howard said a more damaging threat looms this fall.

"We're more concerned about the electricity costs than the gasoline costs," Howard said. "We have a lot of schools with a lot of air-conditioning units."

Using natural gas

Clark County and local city fleets include vehicles that use compressed natural gas, as well as unleaded gasoline. Although a gallon equivalent of compressed natural gas is less expensive than a gallon of unleaded gasoline, the real purpose of natural gas is to help the environment because it is clean- burning. Natural gas also does not get as much mileage as unleaded gasoline and therefore is generally useful to government workers only on short trips.

Oaks said natural gas also is not a viable alternative for Metro's 1,500 police cars and motorcycles because it does not deliver the performance those vehicles require for pursuit.

"Rapid acceleration is just not there," Oaks said.

Metro goes through 4,000 gallons of unleaded fuel each day at a cost of about $6,300. Though fuel prices may continue to increase, Oaks said the police department has no intention of reducing patrol, a critical "front line" service needed to protect the public.

Instead, Metro has chosen to keep certain employee positions vacant through attrition and has held onto some police vehicles longer than originally planned to trim costs associated with the purchase of new cars.

"You have some maintenance costs once you keep a car you should have taken off the road, so you end up chasing your own money," Oaks said.