The price of oil jumped to almost $72 a barrel Tuesday, which could lead to gas prices increasing in the next couple of days by almost 90 cents a gallon.
For the Harford County government, the increase will have little impact on the day-to-day operation of the county?s fleet because the county has a contract with an oil company where the cost of fuel is held steady.
“The contract is locked in until December 2006,” said Joe Patti, deputy director of the Harford County Department of Procurement, the agency responsible for making all of the county?s large purchases. Patti said Harford County pays $2.09 per gallon for gas and $2.08 a gallon for diesel fuel under its contract with Isobunkers LLC out of Aston, Pa.
In the last fiscal year, Harford County paid just more than $1.6 million to fuel its fleet, which presently stands at 960 vehicles, including cars for the Sheriff?s Office. Between July 1, 2005, and March 31, the county has spent more than $1.7 million on fuel, according to information provided by Kim Spence of the county budget office.
In terms of allocating enough funds to cover ever-increasing fuel prices, Patti said the county has allowed for a 60 percent increase in the cost of fuel in the next fiscal year, which he said would represent a $1.75 million increase from the present budget.
“It?s going to be substantial,” Patti said Wednesday.
Harford County Treasurer John Scotten said the increase in the cost of gas affects Harford County?s budget just as it would anyone who uses a gasoline-powered car to commute to work.
“You have to cut something out,” Scotten said.
If the county is forced to pay more when the contract is renewed, and there is a disparity between what has been budgeted and the cost, departments would have to sacrifice and transfer funds from other less important areas of their budgets.
“It?s a balancing of monies you do have within that budget of each department,” Scotten said.
But having budgeted in preparation for an increase of up to 60 percent next year, county officials do not anticipate the situation getting to the point where other services would have to be curtailed.
WJZ-TV 13 contributed to this report.
