Gas price squeeze
Local sheriff’s department grapples with climbing gas costs
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, July 4, 2008 11:32 AM PDT
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| Payette County Sheriff Chad Huff stands between two department patrol vehicles. The sheriff’s office has not been immune to the rising fuel prices, and Huff says he will be lucky to finish the fiscal year within his budget. Currently, the department spends $5,000 a month out of its fuel/travel budget to cover gas expenses. |
PAYETTE — Like other agencies in the area, fuel costs have taken their toll on the Payette County Sheriff’s Office budget, forcing the department to enact cost-saving measures.
Payette County Sheriff Chad Huff said his budget for fuel this year suffered as gas prices climbed. The escalating costs required his office to take different measures to limit mileage and save money regarding fuel for the department’s vehicles.
Currently the department has 16 patrol vehicles, five to six staff vehicles, two boats, a work crew van and a rarely-used mobile command motor home.
“My fuel bill is averaging about 5,000 dollars a month at the 4 dollar a gallon mark and I’m barely going to have enough money in this year’s budget to cover the next three months,” Huff said.
He said he is trying not to exceed $5,000 a month for the next three months, until October, when the new budget cycle begins. As a result, Huff, with his deputies’ cooperation, established a series of fuel-saving measures to meet that $5,000 per month goal.
He said he’s tried to limit the mileage put on cars, asking patrol officers to slow down their patrols and their speeds on cars, which improve gas mileage. He said, he’s asked deputies to use stationary radar when looking for speeders. Huff also asked his deputies to handle as many calls as possible over the telephone rather than responding to each.
“And a lot of calls can be handled over the phone,” he said. Those calls include nuisance calls such as dogs barking in the middle of the night and other minor complaints.
Sheriff’s deputies will respond, however, whenever anyone requests to see an officer.
These measures were implemented about two months ago, he said. Before then, however, sheriff’s deputies were averaging about 200 miles per shift, which Huff said isn’t unusual.
“When I was on state police, it was nothing to put 3 to 400 miles on in a shift,” he said.
Payette County deputies must patrol 410 square miles in Payette County, including the rivers, but Huff said he is satisfied the fuel-saving precautions have not impacted service.
“I haven’t done anything too drastic,” he said, adding his deputies have done a good job being frugal, and he hasn’t considered going so far as to set a cap on mileage.
Huff said the county commissioners are aware of the department’s fuel budget woes and have not requested extra cost-saving steps be implemented.
“They’ve told me to continue doing business as usual and don’t worry about going over your budget if it means providing a service to the community,” he said.
Huff said sheriff’s deputies can purchase fuel from any gas station, but the department receives a discount from Sinclair stations, which has become a primary source for fuel.
“(The discount) is substantial enough where I have asked my deputies to fuel as much as possible at Sinclair,” he said. “I want to give business to all the gas stations, but I also have to do what’s best for the taxpayers.”
The gas price hike, Huff said, also pushed up his budget request for fuel and other travel expenses, which fall under the same line item. Other travel expenses include inmate transfer and warrant service. This fiscal year he budgeted $62,000 for fuel/travel, but for the upcoming budget cycle, Huff asked for $90,000.
If it became necessary, Huff said, the department could trim costs in other areas of its budget to meet the high fuel price demand. Other areas, Huff said, either can’t be cut, such as ammunition, while others he strongly recommends not be cut, such as vehicle replacement purchases, wages or staff numbers. Payette County Commissioner Marc Shigeta said law enforcement and public safety is one of the highest priorities of the county commissioners, and commissioners are going to examine all the needs involving law enforcement when putting together the budget.
“Well, it’s always very important, and if the right elements think that we’re shy of (sufficient law enforcement) then they might take advantage of that,” he said. “It’ll be the entire package that we’re looking at.”
Shigeta said commissioners are still early in budgeting for the next fiscal year, and he is not sure how departments will be affected.
“We’re still trying to recover from that murder trial,” Shigeta said.
