Selectboard Takes Fuel Oil 'Gamble'
Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 15:01 CDT
Jul. 7--SPRINGFIELD -- Town officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward fuel oil purchases, hoping prices will go down despite recent trends pointing them upward.
At a special meeting Wednesday, Springfield selectmen voted unanimously to allow Town Manager Bob Forguites to monitor fuel oil prices for the town and the school district. If Forguites finds acceptable prices on oil and propane, he would then poll the selectboard and enter into a new one-year contract.
If not, the board will take up the matter again at its next meeting on July 18.
Forguites collected two quotes that put prices 25 to 30 percent higher than under the current contract.
"It's a gamble," said Selectman Mark Blanchard, who has looked into fuel oil prices and believes demand will lessen, prompting lower prices.
Other board members were not as sure but agreed not to accept Johnson & Dix's low bid in favor of allowing Forguites to check prices every two days or so to see if the situation does improve.
"It has not been getting any better," said the town manager, adding that prices increased 10 cents in the past week.
"My personal feeling is demand will go down," Blanchard said. He has spoken with several people in recent weeks. "Nobody really knows. What it boils down to is a roll of the dice." Selectwoman Marie Gelineau compared the issue to "betting on horses." Springfield's fuel oil contract runs from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31.
Selectman John Hall asked Forguites, "What's your definition of a good price?" Hall said his gut feeling is prices will keep going up, a feeling shared by chairwoman Mary Helen Hawthorne.
Selectmen voted unanimously to allow Forguites to monitor fuel oil prices and call board members if he feels the price is right.
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Copyright (c) 2005, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.
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Source: Eagle Times, Claremont, New Hampshire
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