Fuel prices may affect farmers' planting decisions
Posted 5/8/2006 4:14 AM ET
By Sue Kirchhoff, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON â€

Police struggling with fuel budgets

By MEGHAN DURBAK
Tribune staff writer

Local fire and police departments are struggling to stay within budget constraints thanks to the recent inflation of gas prices.

“It’s a guessing game with fuel prices,” said Tipton Police Chief Gordon Tocco.

So far, the Tipton police department is losing the game. Tocco said his department is at least $2,000 over its allotted budget for fuel, and the figure may rise.

Some cutbacks are being made. Tocco asked his officers to use air conditioning in their cars sparingly.

For the most part, Tocco said it’s a matter of reallocating funds and determining how much he’ll need for next year.

Using the trends from the past three years, Tocco said he’s asked the city council for a $5,500 increase in fuel funds.

The Tipton Police Department isn’t alone in its struggle.

“Gas prices has definitely gotten the attention of the Kokomo Police Department,” said Kokomo police chief Russ Ricks.

“There was time when gas prices were approaching $2, when we said it surely wouldn’t go over three,” he said.

Now that Ricks has been proven wrong, he said his department has made serious efforts to conserve gas. In fact, the Kokomo Police Department is trying to cut fuel usage by 10 percent.

The department has cut back on the number of take home police cars, and officers are supposed to turn their cars off when possible, Ricks said. He has also put in a request for a larger fuel budget for next year.

The Tipton Fire Department is 10 percent over its budget, said Fire Chief Jeff Ogden.

On May 1, Ogden said his department cut back on the number of vehicles that respond to a call.

For EMS and fire runs, Ogden said his crew cut back the number of trucks used on an initial call. Now they only use one truck for fires, unless a second one is needed, and just the ambulance for EMS runs.

Ogden said the fire trucks were updated in 2001 to be more efficient. This has helped with costs a great deal, but Ogden may have to reallocate funds as well, unless gas prices drop later this year.