DICKSON CITY, Pa. — Municipalities are also keeping an eye on gas prices, especially for departments that use gas like fire and police.
Police cars sit empty outside the Dickson City Police Department. Officers respond to plenty of calls daily, but Police Chief Will Bilinski says they're trying to be smarter about gas usage because of rising costs.
"We have some older vehicles, and they're going to use more fuel. We try and stay with our more efficient vehicles that are newer," Chief Bilinski said.
Between the police, DPW, and fire vehicles, Dickson City officials say they spent almost $7,500 on fuel costs in January. DPW crews say battling the icy conditions this winter didn't help either and worry about higher gas prices affecting the allocated budget costs.
"March is funny on weather too. You get another snowstorm or two in between that's extra mileage, extra runtime on the vehicles, extra fuel," said Joe Chowanec, a Dickson City DPW director. "There's a lot, wear and tear on the tires. The prices of tires will go up with the price of crude oil going up. There's a lot involved."
The price of gas hasn't changed day-to-day business for the borough yet, but with the budget set, it could affect things later on down the road.
"We're not doubling up on patrols. We don't see the need for that yet, but as this plays on and as the year gets older and our budget starts to shrink because of it, it might actually happen," the chief said.
"You never know how it's going to turn out, but if I had to guess, it's going to cut down on at least a few projects," Chowanec.
Dickson City residents will still see emergency and borough crews conducting business as usual. Borough officials hope gas prices come down soon, so no major adjustments to this year's budget need to be made.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube page.