Killeen City Manager Connie Green said one of the first steps will be a change in the city’s travel policy.
Effective July 1, Green said traveling outside the state in a city-owned vehicle will be suspended, unless it is an emergency situation.
Killeen Fire Chief Jerry Gardner said the fire department may consider ruling out trips to Scott & White Hospital in Temple.
“We have Darnall and we have Metroplex (hospitals),” Gardner said.
Some changes have already taken effect.
Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin said the department established a 10-mile radius for officers who live outside the city limits to ensure they can respond to an emergency when manpower is needed. This prohibits officers who live more than 10 miles outside the city limits from taking a city-owned vehicle home. Those who live within the 10-mile radius, or in the city limits, can drive a vehicle home.
Green met with the council Tuesday night to discuss its strategic plan and map out a path to creating the fiscal year 2009 budget.
The ever-increasing fuel costs affects the city’s active fleet of more than 800 vehicles, which includes police, fire and solid waste department vehicles.
Although the city is exempt from state and federal gas taxes, the price has steadily increased.
“Gas is $4 a gallon and the city of Killeen is paying about $3.75,” Green said.
In fact, fuel costs have increased about 60 percent since 2004, said Kim Randall, director of fleet services for the city of Killeen.
“It has gone through the roof,” Randall said.
The average price paid in 2004-05 was $1.97.
Last year, the city paid an average price of $2.82 per gallon for unleaded gas and $3.15 for diesel fuel.
“That is a 23-percent increase from October 2007 to May 2008,” Green said.
This fiscal year, the city expects to pay $3.92 for unleaded gas, if prices can manage to remain steady. That translates into about $1.6 million in fuel costs for the upcoming fiscal year.
The city fleet is expected to see increases in fuel costs before the end of this fiscal year, but Green said the city is holding its own and that city services have not and will not be adversely affected by any of the changes.
“We believe we can manage that within our current operating budget without having to ask for increased funding,” Green said.
