Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The rising fuel prices over the last few months have had an impact on more than just you and your family. Organizations and even Erie County have felt the pinch at the pump.
At Feedmore WNY, Collin Bishop says there are numerous vehicles in use to provide food for those in need. "Vehicles are out delivering the meals, the home delivered meals to sites for distribution daily, as well as a fleet of trucks that are taking food from our warehouse to the different food banks and food and soup kitchen pantries around our four county area," says Bishop. He notes fuel costs have doubled year over year, specifically for diesel. That means other programs don't have as much in their budgets.
FeedMore WNY came from the merger of the Food Bank and Meals on Wheels, the latter of which relies on volunteers. Bishop says there are 400 volunteers at FeedMore. "We've heard from a handful of them about gas prices specifically, when we hear from them directly, we try to work with them," says Bishop. He says the group tries to work with them and see if there's anything else that they're able to do, or if they just need to take a break in terms of delivering. He notes older volunteers may be eligible for reimbursement. "The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, which is anybody 55 or older living in area, Niagara County is eligible for it. And it reimburses your fuel expenses, your travel expenses, from your home to the volunteer site, and then back again," explains Bishop.
Erie County's fiscal watchdog is keeping an eye on fuel prices too. "The county is no different than than you were I or any family, with the exception of the fact that we've got to pave hundreds of miles of road every year," says Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. He says not only does public works spend more on fuel, but on asphalt, a petroleum-based product to pave the roads.
Hardwick says the rise in fuel prices was a surprise. "I don't know that we saw this coming, because the war in the Ukraine was not certainly on our radar when we put together the budget last fall," says Hardwick. That will be a different story come budget time this year. "We have to be very sensitive to high energy prices as as well as a number of other things that I laid out in a in a letter to the county legislature recently," explains Hardwick. He says the county is flush with a healthy fund balance, but it can be swallowed up in a budget crisis. "i think we have to be be very, very cautious when we put together next year's budget," adds Hardwick.
Hardwick says he has another concern: revenue. He says a recession means the county will not have the revenue coming in, in sales tax, for instance, the county would otherwise have. The county and state gas tax caps also play a role. "Anything above $2 a gallon, isn't being taxed by Erie county. We get a straight 10 cents per gallon on every gallon of gas regardless of the if the price is $2 or $5." Hardwick says that's a lot of money the county is giving up.
