Virginia Beach gas use up despite goal to cut

VIRGINIA BEACH

When gasoline prices spiked last year, city leaders set a goal: reduce fuel consumption citywide by 5 percent.

It hasn't happened. From Jan. 1 to March 31, the city burned 6 percent more gas than it did in the same period last year.

The trend means the city spent about $75,000 more in those three months than it would have if officials had met their goal. The city has 3,603 pieces of equipment that use either unleaded or diesel - lawn mowers, weed eaters, boats, dredges - including 2,321 licensed vehicles.

The conventional wisdom holds that increasing demands for services drive fuel consumption.

"If the community is demanding more responses, we don't make choices, we just roll to the sound of the request," Deputy City Manager Dave Hansen said.

And that's partly true. However, in some departments gas use was up while demand for services was not.

The Department of Emergency Medical Services had a 9.2 percent jump in fuel use but a slight decrease in calls for service over the same time last year.

EMS Chief Bruce Edwards said, "We're still trying to figure out where all that came from when we didn't have the call increases."

The Fire Department had a 1.5 percent fuel increase, yet calls were down 2.3 percent.

The Police Department had a 3 percent increase in fuel use but a 4.3 percent decrease in calls.

Chief Jake Jacocks said there is no relationship between calls for police assistance and gas consumption.

"We don't sit and wait for calls," he said. "The officers are on patrols. What we don't want to do is to park police cars and have them sit somewhere for so many minutes an hour."

Officials in departments with the largest fuel increases - Public Utilities and Human Services - said demand for services spurred consumption.

The cold winter meant more water main breaks, said Tom Leahy, director of public utilities, which posted a 15.6 percent increase in fuel use, the city's biggest jump. He also said his crews spent a lot of time unclogging grease from sewer lines this year.

The Department of Human Services is burning nearly 12 percent more gasoline, partly because of a new regulation to check on foster children once a month instead of once a quarter, said Randy Thompson, a department finance official.

Sheriff Paul Lanteigne, whose department had an 8 percent increase, said fuel use is largely out of his hands.

"If we get court orders to pick someone up in Bath or Richmond, that's what we got to do," he said.

A 29 percent fuel increase by his inmate work force unit is due to additional work load, he said.

"We have picked up more lane miles, so obviously the lawn mowers are cutting more grass and the trucks are going further to do that," he said.

Lanteigne also questioned the validity of the gas data, pointing out examples of seemingly improbable numbers.

For example, one entry showed a Ford Expedition in his department getting 46 miles per gallon. Another showed a paddy wagon getting 43 miles to a gallon.

Not all departments used more fuel. The Convention and Visitors Bureau sliced 21 percent off its consumption.

Department head Jim Ricketts said a big national bus convention last year boosted fuel use. The convention was not in Virginia Beach this year, therefore consumption was down.

Some officials aren't sure the 5 percent goal can be met.

"What we're finding out is, it may be unrealistic," Hansen said.

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com