[08/17/01] Buses ferrying Vicksburg Warren School District students will log 1.2 million miles in the next 11 months, consuming $275,000 worth of fuel toward a total operating cost topping $3 per mile.

Jack Cooper, veteran director of pupil transportation for the district, said $3,700,220 allocated to transportation will pay for staffing, maintaining and operating 157 buses.

The increase of $25,000 is a small one from the 2000-2001 fiscal year when a nationwide spike in energy prices helped make the initial bus fuel budget inadequate. The district budgeted $3,651,243 for overall transportation costs in that plan.

“It really hit us by surprise in October or November, when everybody started paying more for gas,” Cooper said.

Instead of the initial $225,000 planned for bus fuel, Cooper’s department had to spend $267,000, he said.

But with prices now on the decline throughout the United States, Cooper said he’s confident that $275,000 is enough.

“I think the budget does the right thing,” he said. “I think we’ll be all right this time.”

Cooper’s department buys fuel through a state contract from Fuelman, a company that sells discounted gasoline to thousands of government agencies and non-profit corporations nationwide. With the volume discount plus the fact that fuel for schools is exempt from state and federal taxes, a gallon pumped can cost as little as half what any other consumer would pay.

“We pay a good deal less than ordinary folks at the pump,” said Dale McClung, district director of finance.

VWSD bus drivers can fill up at about 13 sites in Warren County, with a card resembling the ones used for withdrawals at ATMs. After scanning the card, drivers have to record a PIN number and their mileage.

“We get a fleet printout showing us who’s driving how many miles,” Cooper said. “It’s a really good system.”