Bloomington residents have yet to pay the price for the fuel costs of services

Collecting trash, extinguishing fires, transporting goods and providing public transportation are vital services for a community, but the fuel costs for these services could hit consumers’ pocketbooks.\nHowever, some services are trying to keep up with the cost of fuel without making citizens pay, with varying degrees of success.\nBloomington Sanitation Department Director Shelby Walker said garbage-truck drivers have already used tricks to decrease their gas consumption by decreasing the number of trips taken to pick up trash and not allowing trucks to sit idle for long periods of time.\nAlthough the department hasn’t exceeded its gas budget yet, Walker said it’s hard to predict what could happen in the future as gas prices continue to increase.\n“We have to have a plan,” he said. “Garbage pickup is just something that needs to be done.”\nBloomington Fire Department Chief Roger Kerr said the fire department is also still within its fuel budget, but funding has become very tight, with fuel costing $2,500 a month more than the department anticipated in its 2008 budget. He said if the department does go over budget, it will have to ask for appropriation from local government.\n“We don’t have much choice but to respond to calls,” he said. “All we can do is continue like we are.”\nAlthough times are tough for public services, Walker said he doubts the increase of cost will hit the community anytime soon. He said raising taxes is an unfavorable way to resolve the problem, but it might happen if it needs to be done, although he doesn’t know how much of an increase it will cause.\n“It will be the very last resort,” he said. “We don’t want to make any unnecessary burden on the community.”\nAlthough the cost of government-funded services may not have affected the Bloomington community, some transportation businesses have had no choice but to raise prices for consumers.\nYellow Cab Company manager Les Gyger said the rising cost of gas and the decrease of business during the summer has hit his company hard. He said plans have been made to increase cab fares by 50 to 75 cents starting in August.\nAlthough he didn’t want to raise the fare cost, Gyger said he needs to do what is necessary to stay in business and continue to provide taxi services to the community.\n“I don’t want to hit people harder than I have to,” he said. “But we can’t do much about it at this point.”\nLocal trucking companies are also trying their best to avoid raising the cost of transporting materials and goods, said Jeff Meadows, co-owner of JLM Trucking. The small family-owned trucking company has been in business for about eight years and transports construction materials nationally. \nHowever, he said, the rising cost of gas is making it more expensive to produce and transport goods to and from Bloomington, making it more expensive for Bloomington consumers. Meadows said it is hard for his company to keep up with the costs by itself.\n“We had to increase our rates to our customers,” he said. “But we have to do what we have to do to stay in business.”\nMeadows said in recent years, gas cost his company $46,000 to $60,000 annually. However, he said he now spends an average of $2,000 a week on fuel. If the trend continues, the budget for fuel for JLM Trucking might rise to more than $100,000 this year.\nHe said when trucking companies have to increase their rates to keep up with the cost of fuel, the price might end up affecting consumers.\n“It’s going to be a problem when people have to pay $15 for a gallon of milk,” Meadows said. “When we have to raise rates, it’s going to affect you.”\nGyger said it might be a hard road ahead for the Bloomington community. Public service officials and business owners are trying to do what they can to keep providing their services while not making their patrons pay.\n“Anybody who has to use gas is feeling it,” he said. “We have to cut every corner we can.”