Fuel costs eat away at highway budget (06/27/06)

As the price of fuel continues to climb, it is affecting the Jay County Highway Department’s budget for the current year.

County highway superintendent Ken Wellman told Jay County Commissioners Monday that the amount he has left for fuel for this year will last through only August or September.

A total of $125,000 was budgeted for fuel for the current year, along with a small amount carried over from the 2005 budget.

“It’s all because of the price of fuel,” Wellman told commissioners.

He said he will be asking the Jay County Council to approve a budget of $275,000 for fuel for 2007 and will probably seek an additional appropriation to carry the department through the end of the year. The 2007 figure represents an increase of about $150,000.

Additionally, Wellman told commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has notified him runoff from the garage maintenance area will have to be collected and disposed of properly by Jan. 1.

“They tell us there needs to be another holding tank or else hook into the city sewer,” Wellman said.

Currently fluids that drip from the trucks during repair is washed into a trough and filtered before flowing into a field tile near the garage.

“It’s not much,” Wellman said, “maybe a few drops of oil will spill when they change the oil.”

Commissioners discussed with Wellman the possibility of creating a trap for such runoff and placing it in barrels for collection or hooking into the city’s sewer line that extends from the Jay County Retirement Center past the highway garage on county road 200 North.

“It’s a big headache getting permission from the city to hook into the sewer,” Miller said about that possibility, and recommended building a holding tank and having it hauled away.

Wellman also told commissioners he had selected a dump truck bid from Selking International, Muncie, for a 2007 International with a Cummins engine for $73,898.94.[[In-content Ad]]