• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Small Steps Taken on Fuel

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Phil Kabler, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Oct. 12--State government is taking small steps to reduce gasoline costs, including revising the new statewide vehicle purchasing contract to include gas-electric hybrids.

"Because of escalating fuel prices, we've added supplemental specifications for hybrid vehicles," Department of Administration spokeswoman Diane Holley said Tuesday.

Bids for the new contract are to be opened Oct. 18, and the contract is to be awarded by Nov. 1.

The new specifications include hybrid sports utility vehicles. Holley said it would be up to each agency to determine whether to order fuel-efficient vehicles.

"It's the agency's responsibility to select the most cost-efficient vehicle for their needs," Holley said. "Different agencies have different missions, and they have different requirements for the types of vehicles they need."

Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin, said Administration Secretary Robert Ferguson is working on an overall policy for reducing state travel and transportation expenses.

She said that, unlike some governors across the country, Manchin has not parked the Denali SUV leased to the governor's office, but is reviewing the necessity of travel on a case-by-case basis.

"We are monitoring the use of the Denali," Ramsburg said, who said the vehicle's size at times is an advantage.

"It allows us to take everyone in one vehicle instead of two," she said.

She said the governor's office is also monitoring air travel, which has much higher fuel costs.

"We're trying to use vehicles whenever possible, instead of the helicopter or the airplane," she said.

Ramsburg said governors who have parked their SUVs have done so largely for symbolic value, and Manchin will soon unveil what she called sweeping proposals for long-term energy solutions.

"One thing the governor is working on is, what do we do to eliminate the problem in the first place," she said.

Meanwhile, as state agencies go through the process this fall of finalizing the budget requests the governor will present to the Legislature in January, the state purchasing director said higher fuel prices are not part of the equation.

Roger Smith said he couldn't recall any time that agency budgets have been increased to account for inflation or price increases. Smith said most agencies will have to absorb the higher fuel costs.

"That's one of the things you tell agencies is, they have to adjust through incremental savings to do things both smarter and cheaper," he said.

"For most agencies, it's not going to be the central point of discussion," Smith said.

He said agencies that have high fuel demands that cannot be easily reduced -- such as State Police, the Department of Transportation, and public schools' costs for buses -- will need to request more money from the Legislature during the annual budget presentations to House and Senate Finance committees.

Smith said state agencies are starting out ahead in this year's budget process, because for the first time in five years, agencies have not been asked to build budget cuts into their requests.

-----

To see more of The Charleston Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wvgazette.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Charleston Gazette

More News in this Category