KILLEEN, Texas — Average statewide gas prices in Texas has gone from $2.91 a gallon in January to $4 a gallon as of March 10. It's now pulling thousands of dollars out of city budgets for services they simply can't stop providing for the public.
"It's hard to do, but the job still has to be done to keep everybody safe and provide services," Killeen Director of Fleet Services Frank Tydlacka said. "Water and sewer vehicles run four days a week. For sure the emergency services... Ambulance and fire."
Tydlacka said the fuel bill for the city's fleet was around $180,000 in February. Gas prices have continued to rise nearly a dollar since and Tydlacka expects to see an impact.
"Sixty-thousand gallons a month is what we average. If it increases another dollar at the truck and is passed on to us it would be another $60,000 a month," Tydlacka said.
Tydlacka told 6 News the City of Killeen pays for fuel out of several different funds. Police fuel comes out of the government fund, water and sewer come out of another fund and so on. He said each fund has an additional balance available for emergency situations and the fuel cost should be covered by those savings for this year.
Still, the city doesn't want to deplete the emergency funding if they can help it. He said city staff are encouraged to fill up work vehicles at the city's service station where gas is around 5 cents cheaper. He's also working to cut down on any time vehicles stay on while idle and said police interceptors could use cheaper gas.
"We've already began reducing cost getting regular unleaded versus premium," Tydlacka said.
Right now the larger concern is for future budgets. Killeen officials don't know how expensive the gas will be in the future and don't have projections to work from. Tydlacka said the city was already starting work on the 2023 budget this month.
Other cities and school districts are also seeing savings disappear. The City of Temple told 6 News via a statement the cost of fuel has already offset other budget gains:
"The increase in fuel prices has exceeded the price per gallon estimated in our FY 2022 Budget. However, we have other expenditures that are less than forecasted, which will offset the budget impact from increased fuel prices. We are consistently monitoring current and projected fuel prices. The City’s service levels will not be affected, and we are prepared to adapt to these circumstances"
Temple ISD also told 6 News they are watching prices carefully. They said in a statement, "The district builds the transportation budget to account for some fluctuation in gas prices as this is never a constant. At this point, we are not expected to exceed our budget projections. However, if gas prices remain at the current historic rates, we will have to make adjustments to our overall transportation budget."
Tydlacka said the fuel budget with definitely be a "moving target" in the coming months.