SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2022
FROM PAGE ONE
THE OBSERVER — A7
to avoid letting engines run
when they are waiting for
students at a school.
“We are reminding them
not to idle,” he said. “If bus
drivers arrive at a school
10 minutes early we do not
want them to have engines
idling during that time.”
FUEL
Continued from Page A1
In preparation for the
upcoming fi scal budget
planning, the Union
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce is
looking at adjustments that
might need to be made.
“It’s going to have
a huge impact,” Union
County Sheriff Cody
Bowen said. “We’re pre-
pared for it and planning
on it. We should be OK.
We still have lots of money
in the budget as far as that
goes, there’s the rest of the
fi scal year until July.”
Bowen said the offi ce
will not make any changes
to its patrols and services,
but deputies are aware
of the current fi nancial
burden of gas.
“I’ve asked the guys
just to be conscious of it,”
he said. “It’s one of those
things that we have to do
what we have to do.”
Road maintenance
Union County Public
Works Director Doug
Wright said that the higher
gas prices are not having
an immediate infl uence on
the work his department is
doing but he worries that it
could in the future.
“The real issue is will
the prices stay up?” he
said.
Wright said continued
high prices could eff ect
how much road repair and
maintenance work the
county can do. He noted
that higher fuel costs are
driving up the price of
asphalt, which oil is a
major component of.
This would mean that
chip seal and patch repair
work on Union County
roads might have to be cut
back, he said.
The city of La Grande
Public Works department
has not been struck hard
yet by the recent price
spike because it purchased
its current supply of gas
and diesel fuel before it hit,
according to its director,
Kyle Carpenter.
“We were very fortunate
with our timing,” he said.
Carpenter said his
department’s current
supply of fuel will last
another one to two months.
The public works depart-
ment, which purchases its
fuel every two or three
months, has a storage
capacity of 10,000 gal-
lons for gasoline and about
5,000 gallons for diesel.
Carpenter, like Wright,
is also worried about the
rising price of asphalt. He
noted that the cost of oil
used to make asphalt has
jumped 50% in 2022.
“That could have an
impact on how much road
work we do in the coming
year,” Carpenter said. “We
will be taking a very close
look at our budgets.”
According to Strope,
La Grande Public Works
will be seeking out a 10%
increase in its budget for
the upcoming fi scal year.
“We’re right in the
middle of department
budget requests, so I’m
seeing an increase in
requested amounts related
to that,” Strope said. “I’m
not sure where we’re
going to land on that, but
we’re absolutely planning
on increasing the budget
based on what we’re
seeing.”
Public transit
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
A La Grande Middle School student looks out from a bus after class on Thursday, March 17, 2022. The school district, city and county law
enforcement agencies, public works and public transportation are all being impacted by the rising cost of gas.
because when preparing
its spending plan for 2021-
2022 it budgeted its antic-
ipated expenses on the
high side and it projected
revenue on the low side.
Hislop said this has put the
school district in a better
position to absorb the cost
increases.
The superintendent said
he feels fortunate that there
are just 50 days left in the
school year, which will
limit the eff ect of the price
spike on busing costs.
“If this was happening
in September, it would
have a far bigger budget
impact,” he said.
The superintendent
said there are no plans to
curtail scheduled trips to
athletic events including
track meets this spring. He
said, though, that should a
coach ask to send athletes
to compete at an event like
a track meet in Southern
Oregon, the request would
likely not be approved.
Mid Columbia Bus
Company, which provides
bus service to students
in the La Grande, Cove,
North Powder, Burnt River
and Long Creek school
districts, has not yet been
aff ected by the recent price
spike. The company made
its last fuel purchase in
mid-February, said Katha-
leen Maley, location man-
ager for the Grande Ronde
Transportation Branch
of Mid Columbia Bus
Company.
The fuel is stored in La
“We are reminding them not to idle. If
bus drivers arrive at a school 10 minutes
early we do not want them to have engines
idling during that time.”
— Chuck Moore, Mid Columbia Bus Company region vice
president
Grande, and Maley said
it will last through the
middle of next week.
Chuck Moore, region
vice president for Mid
Columbia Bus Company,
said that if gas prices do
not go down by the middle
of next week when fuel for
the Grande Ronde Branch
is purchased, the school
districts in the branch will
be charged more for the
bus service they are pro-
vided. He said the con-
tracts Mid Columbia Bus
Company has with the
school districts allows for
this when there is a signifi -
cant increase in fuel prices.
Moore said Mid
Columbia Bus Company is
taking steps to boost how
effi ciently its buses are
operating. For example, its
bus drivers are being told
Kane Lester, Union
County manager of North-
east Oregon Public Transit,
which provides free public
transportation throughout
Union County, said there
has not has not been a sig-
nifi cant increase in rider-
ship since the recent dra-
matic jump in gas prices.
He anticipates the number
of people using public
transportation will go up,
though, as the weather
improves in the next week.
He said Northeast Oregon
Public Transit’s ridership
traditionally rises when the
weather improves and gas
prices are high.
Lester said that there are
not any planned changes
in the fi xed route bus ser-
vice Northeast Oregon
Public Transit off ers in La
Grande and part of Island
City. However, in its Con-
necting All Towns service,
which provides free rides
to individuals anywhere
in Union County, attempts
will be made to coordinate
rides so there are fewer
instances in which vehicles
are driven with no passen-
gers in them.
For example, if a person
in Union calls for a ride to
La Grande, the individual
may be asked if they can
be picked up at a diff erent
time when the Connecting
All Towns vehicle is taking
someone to Union.
“We will ask people
how fl exible they can be,”
Lester said.
School districts
Imbler School Dis-
trict Superintendent Doug
Hislop, whose school dis-
trict provides its own bus
service, has a hard time
believing what he is seeing.
“It is crazy,” Hislop said
about the skyrocketing cost
of fuel.
Hislop said the district
has been able to absorb
the price spike in part
x2EOMediaFiller - Page 1 - Composite
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