County, state paying more for gas

Bill would require state to purchase efficient & alternative-fuel vehicles

The Maui News
Saturday, April 02, 2005

By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU – Maui's soaring gas prices aren't just pinching drivers at the pump, they're costing taxpayers.

The Maui County Council gave initial approval Friday to taking $330,000 from county savings to supplement money budgeted for gas and electrical costs.

"The price of gas and electricity keeps going up, and although there were increases included in the 2005 budget, the price increases exceeded our projections," explained county Public Works Director Milton Arakawa last week.

It's not the first time the county has run out of gas money.

Last year, the Department of Public Works temporarily shut down pumps to all nonessential vehicles because it had exceeded its annual fuel budget.

Deputy Public Works Director Mike Miyamoto said his department had learned from that crisis.

"We project it so we don't have that situation again," he said. "As soon as the projections came out negative, we went in and said we need to do a supplemental budget because we're running short."

The allocation for gas in the county budget has gone up every year for the last three years, and each time actual spending on gas has outstripped what was budgeted.

In fiscal year 2003, the county budgeted $480,500, but spent $575,963 on fuel. The next year's budget was $495,500, but $690,529 was spent.

This year, $705,500 was appropriated, but the department expects to actually spend $865,500 on gas.

The county currently pays a wholesale price of about $2.08 per gallon of gasoline.

Miyamoto said the department does its best when budgeting for fuel.

"The volatility of the gas prices is a hard thing to predict for us," he said.

Many older vehicles in the county's fleet are being replaced by newer, more fuel-efficient models, and that could help the situation in the future, he added.

State legislators dealing with the same issue in the state's operations are moving on a bill to require state departments to purchase more energy-efficient vehicles.

The bill introduced by Maui Sen. J. Kalani English would require agencies to purchase vehicles that are less dependent on gasoline or diesel incrementally to eventually have 60 percent of the state's vehicle purchases involve alternative-fuel vehicles including hybrid gas-electric cars.

The bill already has been approved by the Senate and was approved by the House Finance Committee this week, nearly a final step before it goes to conference committee.

English said Friday the state is facing the same issues as the counties on increasing energy costs, noting that legislators also are looking at allocating an additional $3 million to cover higher electricity costs.

He said the state can set an example for the counties and the community in purchasing more energy-efficient vehicles.

"By doing this, we can also create more demand for these kinds of vehicles and that will help to reduce the costs of the vehicles," he said.

In Maui County, the public works pumps provide fuel for vehicles from all county departments and has baseyards in Wailuku, Makawao, Lahaina, Hana, Molokai and Lanai.

The supplemental budget request would add another $160,000 for gasoline and $170,000 for electricity, and it would see the county through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

The department originally requested $279,000 for gasoline costs. But that number was later reduced, because Public Works received reimbursement money from some of the county departments that use its pumps.

Council Member Dain Kane said the change gave him some concerns about the "credibility" of the cost estimates.

"If you're asking us for a budget amendment, and then two months later you reduce that estimate by 40 percent, something's wrong with those numbers," he said.

But he said that wasn't enough for him to turn down the request altogether.

"They made it clear it had to be accommodated, or the garages would run out of gas, and the county vehicles wouldn't be able to function," Kane said.

The appropriation is scheduled to go to the council for second and final reading on April 15.

Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2005 The Maui News

Original article: http://www.mauinews.com/print_version.aspx?id=7497

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