Gas prices fell below $3 a gallon in Columbia yesterday, but a volatile year of rapidly rising fuel costs has already taken its toll on the budget for Boone County’s government.

The Boone County Commission today gave final approval to a public works budget revision that moves $100,000 from the vendor-hauled rock budget to the fuel budget to cover rising fuel costs.

The original appropriation for motor fuel - gasoline and diesel - was $500,000 for the year, and only a little more than $23,000 remains. With an average monthly expense of $52,968, the public works tank would go dry by next week without the budget revision.

"We have to keep the trucks running," Public Works Director David Mink said. "If we have to fight snow, that takes quite a bit of fuel."

From March through September, the Public Works Department’s cost for gasoline has averaged 30 percent more than the same period in 2007. The cost of diesel fuel for that same period jumped nearly 57 percent.

"The public has a right to know" that increasing fuel costs caused the budget revision, Southern District Commissioner Karen Miller said Thursday when the issue first came up during a commission meeting. "I think people need to recognize in public works, everything you do is driving. It’s using oil and fuel."

As of this morning, the price of a gallon of regular gas ranged from $2.75-$2.79 in areas of southwest Missouri around Joplin and Springfield to $3.39 in Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri, according to MissouriGasPrices.com. The price ranged from $2.99 to $3.09 in Columbia.

Miller said the transfer of funds from the rock budget to the fuel budget should have little impact on road and bridge projects. The transfer came from funds for "vendor-hauled rock," not from the supply of rock, Miller said, "which means we would just have to haul more ourselves."

Vendor-hauled rock is convenient when crews are working a project that requires multiple truckloads of rock, such as for building a road or for chip-and-seal work, she said.

"For day-to-day work, it’s not critical," Miller added. The budget for vendor-hauled rock will have a balance of almost $368,000 after the budget revision.

In a related matter, the county commission has approved a cost-saving plan to award its bid for hot asphalt - petroleum-based material used for pavement repairs - on a monthly basis rather than on a 12-month contract.

"It is something I have never seen in my 16 years, but it shows you that oil is so volatile that these contractors are not willing to hold their prices from year to year, and who could blame them?" Miller said.

Christensen Asphalt and APAC-Missouri were the only two bidders on a contract to provide hot asphalt. The bids were nearly identical: Christensen bid $60 per ton of base mix, while APAC’s bid was $59.60 per ton. The purchasing and public works departments recommended that each company give competitive pricing for the upcoming month, with the low bid awarded as the primary supplier for that month.

It’s an innovative and unique way to work with the contractors.

"We don’t want to put them out of business," she said. "We need them. We’re all in this together."

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