As diesel prices climb, the drivers at one Spokane County school district are outsourcing to Idaho for bus fuel

Last month, an East Valley School District bus driver topped off the 100-gallon tank with 55 gallons of diesel at the Maverick station on Pines Road in Spokane Valley. It cost the district $328.77.

Later, another East Valley bus driver purchased the same amount of fuel, also at a Maverick station, for about $100 less.

Why the spending discrepancy? The second bus took a 7-mile detour to State line.

It’s a common refrain among Washington residents: fill up in Idaho, a dependable place for cheaper fuel.

In the wake of soaring fuel costs, the East Valley School District found some nearby savings, estimated at $50-100 per bus per week.

“It’s just been a savings all across the board from what I can tell at such an early stage,” said Michelle Monzingo, East Valley’s interim transportation director.

In January, the state-issued charge cards that drivers used no longer required getting fuel at specific pumps. And it didn’t take long for bus drivers to take to their radios to suggest crossing the state line to fill up when convenient.

“They’re the ones who are asking because they care deeply about the district and care about cost savings,” said Neale Rasmussen, the district’s chief financial officer.

East Valley is the only Idaho-bordering school district in Spokane County to slip into the Gem State for fuel. It’s less convenient for other districts to route there.

East Valley’s bus barn is 3 miles from Idaho’s closest gas station, the AmeriMart in Post Falls. The district’s easternmost school, East Farms Elementary, is a little over a mile’s drive to the AmeriMart.

The district has 34 buses running 32 routes across 100 square miles of the district. Its fleet includes six larger buses with 100-gallon tanks and 28 smaller buses with 50- to 60-gallon tanks, Monzingo said. She estimated 1 in 4 drivers take the detour for cheaper diesel in Idaho, filling up once or twice a week when the tanks are about half empty.

Despite the “outside-the-box” thinking to save, fueling costs are higher in East Valley this year compared to last. The district spent just under $45,000 on fuel in April, Rasmussen said. Last year, they paid $28,300.

“That’s what’s just killing school districts right now, you’re always in the red with fuel, even in a regular year,” Monzingo said. “Then this year, I mean, you got to find all the good ways to save money. And that’s a good first way to save money.”

If the spike in gas prices make drivers cringe, the surge in diesel cost left bus drivers and district administrators balking at the pump.

Monday’s average cost of regular gas in Spokane County is 75 cents more than in Kootenai County, at $5.36 versus $4.61 per gallon, according to AAA.

Diesel prices tell the same story with higher stakes. Monday’s average for the Spokane metro area was $6.51 per gallon, around $1 more than Coeur d’Alene’s diesel costs at $5.50, according to AAA.

“We’re just trying to survive, because we have to buy the diesel,” Rasmussen said. “So if we can’t save the money there, we’re going to have to make cuts in other areas just to save for the diesel.”

School districts are exempt from federal taxes on diesel at around 24 cents per gallon, Rasmussen said. They still pay state taxes: 55 cents per gallon of diesel in Washington, according to the Department of Revenue, and 33 cents in Idaho, according to the State Tax Commission.

Monzingo has been working in school district transportation for 28 years, but never in a district with a cost-cutting measure as creative as East Valley’s, she said. She praised district leadership in rolling with the idea that came from the drivers themselves, who Monzingo said fill their radios with chatter about where to get the cheapest fuel in, or out of, town.

“They’re paying such close attention to the prices of the fuel, so they’re really communicating with each other,” Monzingo said. “Maybe last week they could go to a Maverick that was over by Trent (Elementary), but for whatever reason this week, that’s a few pennies more, but a few pennies more … is huge.”