Rising gas prices sees county spend twice as much on fuel

WELLINGTON COUNTY – The County of Wellington is feeling the pinch from record high fuel prices. 

County treasurer Ken DeHart said via email the county has spent 62 per cent, or $649,000, of its annual $1.1 million fuel budget as of the end of April.

This is nearly double what would be expected, as DeHart said by the end of April 2021 the county had spent $349,000. 

“We are likely to have a negative variance on fuel for the year and we’ll need to adjust those budget estimates for the 2023 budget come the fall,” DeHart said in an email. 

DeHart said inflation is impacting municipalities beyond just fuel, which makes up a relatively small portion of the county’s overall operating budget, excluding debt and capital transfers, of $216 million. Other impacts he noted included construction price increases and cost of food for long-term care. 

DeHart said there isn’t any built-in contingency for fuel prices and it is hard to estimate the overall impact at this point in time. 

“At this point we know that assessment growth has been strong and there are savings from the closing of some facilities earlier in the year during the Omicron lockdown, so I suspect we’ll be fine overall,” DeHart said. “However, it is something we’ll monitor closely over the next few months as we prepare for the 2023 budget.”

DeHart said there will be detailed variance reports going to the county’s various committees in June at which point they can estimate the county’s overall financial position and decide if any action needs to be taken to mitigate costs.