WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard says most departments have been able to absorb high prices for gas and diesel fuel through some creative accounting.
According to Leonhard, many departments with fuel budgets are moving money around thanks to vacancies in their salary budgets to make up the cost. He says because of that, they’re confident that they won’t see any major issues this year. “I’m confident that we can manage that internally within the budget.”
One example of that is the Sheriff’s Department. Leonhard says if they were to reduce milage, it would result in a lower quality of service. So instead they’ve moved money from vacant salaries to the fuel budget to make up the difference.
Leonhard adds that the solid waste and highway departments have also deployed similar tactics to deal with the costs. The latter has been somewhat shielded by the increases because they buy their fuel through an RFP process every two years.
“We are able to lock in a fuel rate that I think you or I would be very happy to lock in,” said Leonhard. “The impact is lessened in that regard. They also have highway reserve funds. If we do need to make modifications, we will discuss that with the appropriate committee.”
Other departments including social services, medical examiner, health, and the library have made smaller adjustments but do expect to remain within budget.
Departments without a fuel budget are still seeing an increase due to the current IRS rate for mileage reimbursement, which currently sits at 62.5 cents per mile. Leonhard says at this time he doesn’t expect that any of the county’s departments are in danger of going so far over budget that they will require some form of emergency funding.
