Effect Of Rising Fuel Prices Ripples Through Community
Posted
Erin Windle-
Rising fuel prices are not only affecting individuals, but schools, businesses, farms and municipalities.
School corporations are worried about their budgets considering the amount of gas their buses use in one day.
"It is drastically and negatively affecting my budget ... it's just eating it up," said Della Swain, director of transportation of Warsaw Community School Corp. "Diesel fuel is just killing us."
Swain said if gas prices keep rising, they will have to start looking at new ways to save money.Extracurricular trips may suffer. Warsaw Schools has not discontinued any trips yet, especially with only a short period left in the school year. But it is a strong possibility if gas prices keep rising, Swain said.
Bob Larhman, director of transportation of Wawasee Community School Corp., said that working on the budget for 2008 is like "throwing at a dart board."
He is trying to allocate enough money to cover gas, but there is no way of knowing where fuel prices are going. Larhman is adding an extra $30,000 for fuel alone in the 2008 budget.
Fire, ambulance, police and street departments are also suffering from extreme fuel costs.
Syracuse Fire Chief Mickey Scott said the prices have had a "huge" impact on their budget.
"You get a 3, 4, maybe 5 percent increase per year, and gas alone is using up the 3 to 4 percent," Scott said.
There is no way to calculate the increase in funds needed to cover the budget because gas is so unpredictable, he said.
"I think it's out of control and it's going to cause major problems for the economy if it's not controlled soon," he said.
Farmers especially are having a difficult time dealing with fuel costs. Not only are they having to worry about their personal bank accounts with gas prices, but the extra costs of fuel for the farms are now coming out of their own wallets as well.
Kip Tom, owner of Tom Farms, Leesburg, said they look at rising fuel prices in the "entirety of it all."
"Fuel prices cause a dynamic impact on us," Tom said.
Energy, and therefore fuel, is used to produce, plant, condition and deliver all crops. Fuel is used in every stage of farm production.
Every 10 days Tom Farms uses a full semi-truck's worth of just diesel fuel, he said. So, every 10 days, they are spending much more than what they planned on.
Tom said they have been very aggressive and are doing everything in their practices to save as much fuel as possible. However, if prices continue rising, Tom said, "We're producing a commodity, so there is not much we can do."
Farmers are personally picking up all of the extra costs caused by fuel prices.
Trucking companies are also in a tough situation.
Jenny Conway, dispatcher for Tranzstar Inc., Warsaw, said freights aren't going to pay more just because gas prices go up.
"It costs me a $1.10 (per mile) just to go down the road, and some freight companies don't even want to pay a dollar per mile," she said. "If the shippers don't start paying more, then we are going to lose."
Conway said if more trucking companies start refusing to ship certain orders, then eventually the freight companies would have to start paying them more. But, a lot of trucking companies can't afford to do that.
