Fuel costs drain police budgets
Officers asked to turn off cars, walk, carpool
An unfilled position is helping Rathdrum police keep the cost of filling up from draining the department’s budget.
So far.
Despite using money from the $30,000 position to gas up patrol cars, Police Chief Kevin Fuhr expects the department’s gas budget to be about $12,000 in the red by the end of the year.
To save gas, Fuhr is asking officers to shut off cars for 10 minutes each hour.
He expects officers will use about 18 percent less fuel if they don’t leave engines idling.
“We’re going to try this step before we try anything else,” he said.
Throughout the region, law enforcement agencies are running on fumes with gas costs exceeding budgets set months earlier.
“It’s one of those things you can’t really plan for,” Kootenai County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. By the end of September, the Sheriff’s Office will be about $80,000 over its gas budget, he said.
Deputies are riding two to a car in some cases, he said, and those assigned to patrol small towns like Hayden and Harrison are being asked to park and walk when possible.
Given the amount of territory the Sheriff’s Office covers, Wolfinger said in many cases deputies don’t have time to shut off their engines.
“Last night we had 36 calls within the first hour of the shift,” Wolfinger said. “There’s no time to turn the car off, we’re running from call to call to call.”
The Post Falls Police Department budgeted $60,000 for gas this fiscal year and spent it all in the first eight months, Capt. Scot Haug said.
Like other departments, Post Falls is trying to cut back on the amount of time patrol cars are left idling.
“It’s a lot of common-sense type things,” Haug said. Officers are being asked to do more footwork – instead of driving around to check doors at the high school are locked, they’re expected to walk around the school.
Both Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene police are trying to carpool when possible.
Coeur d’Alene police have already burned up about 80 percent of the department’s $88,000 fuel and lube budget with less than two months to the end of the budget year, Sgt. Christie Wood said.
Chief Wayne Longo asked officers to cut down on idle time and travel, Wood said.
In downtown Coeur d’Alene, Longo and his officers are using bikes to patrol and save money on gas.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is beginning meetings with the County Commissioners Office to look at ways to save on fuel costs. The Sheriff’s Office is on track to go about $12,000 over budget, according to Undersheriff Jeff Tower.
The city of Spokane Valley anticipates gas costs will exceed budget by about $18,000, Tower said.