Fuel savings a public-budget bonus

Low prices at the fuel pump affect more than retail consumers. As fuel prices plummeted, school districts and government entities have saved substantially on their fuel bills for their fleet of buses and other vehicles. So far, savings realized is almost $1 million total at the city of Vancouver, Clark County and seven local school districts.

“The current fuel market is providing some needed relief to transportation budgets,” said Shannon Barnett, director of transportation for KWRL Transportation Cooperative, which operates a fleet of nearly 100 school buses for the Kalama, Woodland, Ridgefield and La Center school districts. “With the rising costs in other budget line-items such as labor, benefits and transportation consumables, it is really nice to be able to find savings in other areas to offset other budget impacts.”

KWRL Transportation Cooperative saved about $30,000 on fuel — about 16 percent — on total expense from the end of January 2014 to the end of January 2015.

Encompassing 271 square miles, Battle Ground Public Schools is the largest school district geographically in Clark County. It saved about $135,000 on fuel purchases through March 3 compared with the same time period last school year, according to MaryBeth Lynn, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and school operations.

Battle Ground has 13,500 students. The district’s 128 school buses transport 5,618 students and travel a total of 11,720 miles daily.

“Transportation costs are big for our district,” said Lynn. “We purchase our fuel off of the Washington state GSA contract,” said Lynn. “Our rates are tied to Oil Price Information Service.”

Because the Battle Ground district is underfunded by about $2 million for transportation, it uses about $2 million of local levy dollars to pay for the unfunded portion. Any savings realized in cheaper fuel prices will help balance the transportation budget, said Lynn.

Brett Blechschmidt, chief fiscal officer for Vancouver Public Schools, said the district is projecting up to $100,000 in savings on fuel in the 2015-2016 school year compared to 2014-2015. He noted that if fuel prices increase before the end of the school year, potential savings would be reduced, however.

Evergreen Public Schools, the district with the largest student enrollment in Clark County, has spent $155,000 less on fuel so far this school year from the same time period last school year said Gail Spolar, district spokeswoman. From the beginning of the school year through Feb. 17, the district purchased 170,466 gallons of fuel for $322,241 and paid an average of $1.89 per gallon. During the same time period in the previous school year, the district purchased 175,220 gallons of fuel for $477,241 and paid an average of $2.72 per gallon.

The city of Vancouver saved $333,000 in 2015 on gasoline and diesel purchases compared with 2014, Chief Financial Officer Lloyd Tyler said. About $187,000 of that amount resulted from the lower price of gasoline and diesel in 2015; the remaining savings were generated by the city’s anti-idling policy and other business process modifications, he said.

Clark County spent $190,803 less on fuel in the past year than it did in the previous year, according to Scott Rood, fleet manager at Clark County Public Works. From April 1, 2014, to March 3, 2015, the county spent $1,139,559 on both diesel and unleaded gasoline for its county vehicles. From April 1, 2015, to March 3, 2016, the county spent $948,756 on fuel.

“We do not lock into a fuel contract, and our fuel prices go up and down depending on the market,” said Rood.

How schools buy fuel

Comparing 2014 fuel expenses to 2015 expenses does not paint the full picture of savings, said Barnett of KWRL Transportation Cooperative. This school year, she has ordered more fuel deliveries to purchase fuel in advance to take advantage of low fuel prices.

“It is in the districts’ best interest to capture fuel at these low prices. For that reason, I am keeping all four KWRL reserve fuel tanks topped off, and we replenish our fuel supply as soon as there is tank capacity available as opposed to simply adding fuel when tanks are depleted.”

The current fuel market prices are helping offset the $0.07 per-gallon increase in state taxes, which adds an additional $700 in state taxes every time fuel has been delivered over last school year, Barnett said.

KWRL purchases fuel in several modes: bulk drops into its privately owned tanks, at card-lock fuel stations directly and through fuel pumped by vendors into its fleet at satellite locations.

Barnett said KWRL puts fuel purchase out to competitive bid and specifies that the bidders craft their proposal based on their price above OPIS rack average at the bulk terminals in Portland.

Their price for diesel in spring 2014 was $3.04 per gallon before taxes and $3.45 after taxes. In September and October 2015, KWRL paid $1.63 per gallon before taxes and $2.09 per gallon after taxes. Its most recent fuel purchase at the end of February was $1.03 per gallon before taxes and $1.49 after taxes.

Barnett said it’s tough to attempt an apples-to-apples comparison regarding fuel costs between school districts due to a number of variables such as volume, type of fuel and delivery logistics specific to an individual district.

“KWRL certainly hopes that fuel prices will continue to provide as much relief as possible and for as long as possible,” Barnett said.

Reporters Amy M.E. Fischer, Kaitlin Gillespie and Adam Littman contributed to this report.