GAINESVILLE - While the financial struggles are far from over for the Hall County School System, at least one department has found a way to save money.
Jewel Armour, who heads the Hall County School System Transportation Department, announced fuel purchases made Thursday that may potentially save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars. The system purchased three more contracts for diesel fuel on the futures market. The contract calls for 42,000 gallons of fuel each month for November 2009, December 2009, and January 2010. The lock-in price, which is at an average cost of $1.68 per gallon, represents a savings of nearly $300,000 over our budgeted price for diesel fuel (The system had budgeted diesel at $3.50 per gallon for Fiscal Year 2009, based on market pricing at the time).
This marks the second such purchase within a month. On February 15, 2009,
Armour had booked diesel for March, April, May, August, September, and October 2009 at a lock-in price of $1.60 per gallon. The Transportation Department anticipates this price to be approximately $400,000 below the system's budgeted figure. Thus, the two combined purchases will net a savings of approximately $700,000 for the system.
Furthermore, as part of this lock-in rate purchase, the system has been guaranteed delivery of fuel in the event of a national, regional, or state shortage, such as the ones the region has experienced the last several years as the result of hurricanes in the Gulf that affected fuel supply and prices throughout the Southeast.
Finally, with this recent purchase, the system has now locked in guaranteed fuel savings for almost a calendar year.
Monday
May 6th, 2024
12:16PM
