Paul Page

Local families stung by soaring gas prices are perfecting creative ways to save on fuel.

Shannon Levi of East Brainerd said she picks up her daughter late from school to avoid waiting in line with the car running. Felicia McGhee-Hilt of Harrison stays downtown throughout the day instead of taking 20-minute trips to and from home.

But public service agencies, from the Chattanooga Police Department to the school system, don’t have as much control over fuel consumption, and alternatives are scarce.

“We’re limited in what we can actually do (to cut costs) because we are an emergency response agency,” Chattanooga Fire Department Chief Wendell Rowe said. “We have to take the calls. And we have to take those calls in big trucks.”

As of Sunday, gasoline prices averaged about $3.49 a gallon nationwide, nearly 66 cents higher than at this time last year, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The average price nationwide for diesel fuel was about $4.20 — about $1.30 more than a year ago.

In Chattanooga, the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gas was $3.37 on Sunday, up from $2.77 a year ago; a gallon of diesel cost $4.06, up from $2.83 a year ago.

Staff Photo by John Rawlston -- David Ramay of the Hamilton County EMS removes the nozzle from the fuel tank of his ambulance after filling it with diesel at the county facility in White Oak. Rising fuel prices have strained the county budget.

As governments budget for the next fiscal year, administrators are trying to determine what cuts must be made to continue providing necessary, gas-dependent services.

“Literally, the wheels of government must keep moving,” said Chattanooga Public Works Administrator Steve Leach.

That goes across the board, said Paul Page, the city’s general services director. To make sure there is enough money to keep the wheels turning, new vehicles, computers and other equipment move down the priority list at many agencies, and existing resources have become increasingly precious.

“You don’t get to raise your taxes to buy extra gasoline. To pay the higher price, the nice things that you wanted to buy in your budget this year, you just can’t buy,” Mr. Page said.

Ms. McGhee-Hilt hopes city and county officials will watch their budgets as closely as she does.

“The normal nuclear family has to tighten their belt and make it work, so the government should have to do the same,” she said. “Otherwise, their operating costs will rise, and that means more money from the taxpayers.”

Ken Wilkerson, chief of Hamilton County EMS, said public administrators are well aware of the pressures they face.

“We’ve realized what the meat of our mission is, and we’ve not sacrificed the meat of our mission, but we’ve had to change operations and how we do business,” Chief Wilkerson said. “The constant evaluation and examination of our budget is a good thing. We ought to be doing that anyway.”

HOW THEY ARE COPING

Chattanooga officials expect to spend $3.9 million for fuel by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, $840,727 more than the $3.1 million originally budgeted.

Chattanooga Police Chief Freeman Cooper said his department is among those strapped for gas money.

To stretch the budget, he recently reminded officers that their take-home cars are to be used only for work-related purposes. And he wants to educate the public about Teleserve, a system that allows residents who do not need immediate police response to make reports over the telephone so officers do not have to drive to the scene.

More drastic policies are being drafted as a contingency plan if fuel costs continue to drain the budget.

“We may have to reduce the number of cars that we use,” Chief Cooper said. “We’d use two-man vehicles instead of one officer per car.”

But that is not ideal, he said, because fewer cars on the road could mean longer response times.

Mounting fuel costs became a major factor in Erlanger hospital’s decision to privatize its air ambulance service, said Roger Forgey, senior vice president of regional operations and business development. Med-Trans Corp. will acquire the hospital’s three Life Force helicopters and all related expenses in May, Mr. Forgey said.

Wayne Hendrix, director of transportation for Hamilton County Schools, said Durham School Services, which manages most of the district’s student transportation, has programmed its buses to shut off after idling for 15 minutes.

Hamilton County EMS has changed the way it distributes supplies and is using virtual mapping technology rather then practice runs to help drivers learn to navigate county roads, according to Chief Wilkerson.

So far the Chattanooga Fire Department has made only minor adjustments, Chief Rowe said, such as buying fewer office supplies and delaying the purchase of new technology.

budget crunch

Balancing financial needs with public obligation will be a challenge for all agencies this year, but service won’t be sacrificed, Hamilton County Finance Administrator Louis Wright said.

“We’ve got a number on one side that’s fixed, and we’ve got a number on the other side that we’ll adjust to it,” he said. “We look at it in total, and I think we’re going to be fine in terms of the total budget. I don’t worry about one particular line item.”

But other administrators worry that gas prices will continue to rise, and setting enough money aside to compensate will be impossible.

“Unless we budget a ridiculous figure, we’re probably going to be over again next year,” Police Chief Cooper said.

Looking to the future, city and county governments have invested money upfront in what officials hope will lead to major savings: newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles powered by alternative energy sources.

The city put a plan in place about two-and-a-half years ago to ensure that every car in its nearly 1,700-vehicle fleet is replaced every five years, Mr. Page said. Because of that, he said, the city used less fuel in 2007 than it did in 2006.

That wasn’t enough to lower fuel expenses, but it did make the increased costs per gallon a little more palatable, Mr. Page said.

The newer vehicles are able to run on ethanol, and plans are in place to begin using the alternative fuel in coming months, he said. The city has obtained a $100,000 state grant to purchase two E85 fuel tanks, which can help fuel some of the 400 vehicles now flex-fuel ready.

Thomas Dugan, executive director of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, said a recent bus fare increase hasn’t been enough to offset what he said is the worst budget crisis his agency has seen in 30 years.

CARTA ultimately may have to eliminate jobs — and therefore services — by up to 10 percent if money does not come through in the upcoming budget, he said.

“We have cut the service down to the bare bone,” said Mr. Dugan, who noted transit ridership is the highest it has been since 1995.