Town And Schools Paying Bargain Prices For Diesel Fuel

By Eliza Hallabeck

With gas prices climbing to new levels this summer, school districts and cities with public transportation are afraid costs will reflect on budgets, but for the Newtown school district costs were set for diesel fuel in March — at what now seem like bargain prices.

“We’re fortunately locked in on our diesel fuel costs,” said Ronald Bienkowski, the district business manager.

 According to the Public Works Director Fred Hurley, the cost of diesel fuel is now the highest it has ever been. In bidding contracts with the state, he locked Newtown’s cost for diesel fuel in at $3.07 a gallon this past March.

“When I say I’m paying $3.07, that’s the final cost to the town,” Mr Hurley said while explaining that the $3.07 has the taxes added in already.

The market price for diesel fuel from wholesalers now, according to Mr Hurley, is between $4.10 and $4.90.

He explained that gasoline and diesel fuels are bid at two separate times during the fiscal year. Gasoline is bid for between November and December, and diesel fuel is placed in during February and March.

“Normally we’re trying to get the time of the year when the fuel is the cheapest,” said Mr Hurley.

Mr Hurley said he is hoping the cost for fuel will go down again by the time the bids will be placed in for the next fiscal year.

“It’s a lot of fun actually,” said Mr Hurley referring to the bidding process, “as long as you get a good price. Otherwise, you sit there sweating a lot.”

All the buses in the school district fill up their tanks at the highway garage at the highway department in town. Through the contract with the owners/operators of the buses, the school buses fill up their engines, and the cost for the fuel is taken out of the school districts budget, according to Mr Bienkowski.

“We’re not worrying about the diesel fuel at all,” said Mr Bienkowski in response to if there are any concerns with the rising costs of fuel.

Last year the school districts budget to fuel for the school buses was $307,000, according to Mr Bienkowski, and this year he said the budget is $460,000. This cost includes all of the sporting events, field trips, and the normal bus routes the buses are used for by the schools.

“It’s costly to run all these trips,” said Mr Bienkowski.