Though the raging gas prices that tore through budgets have dropped, local governments are still struggling under the weight of higher pump prices.

Even local municipalities that budgeted much more for fuel this year than last are finding their bulging allowances are falling short. Despite efforts to conserve and cut back, some municipalities have already surpassed their budgets. How does your hometown stack up?

Berwyn
BUDGETED: $321,781
USED: $406,908 (as of Sept. 30)

In Berwyn, city leaders budgeted $180,000 this year for the combination of police department utilities and vehicle gas and oil.

By Sept. 30, $178,741 had been spent on gas and oil while $28,464 was spent on police department utility bills, according to budget records. That resulted in $207,205 already spent by Sept. 30 on utilities, gas and oil at the police department.

A similar situation cropped up at the Public Works Department, which had a budget of $96,000 for gas and oil for city vehicles, budget records show. And by Sept. 30, the department had spent $144,265 for gas and oil.

Berwyn officials budgeted $321,781 for these gas, oil and utility bills, and by Sept. 30 already had spent $406,908 because of the spike in gas prices. But even with fuel prices falling to less than $3 per gallon for regular, they’re not out of the woods yet.

According to projections provided by Finance Director John Wysocki, Berwyn may spend a total of $603,780 on gas, oil and utility bills for the police, fire and public works departments by year’s end. Assistant Fire Chief Frank Simek said the fire department instituted a fuel reduction policy a few months ago to try to counteract the spike in fuel prices.

“We now have the engineer shut off the rig while shopping,” he said. “It’s not a large savings, but it’s a savings.”

Previously, firefighters needed the engines to remain running, even on food runs, so they didn’t miss calls. Simek said calls now are relayed over the PA system inside of the firehouses and on firefighters’ radios while they are out of the stations.

But it is too soon to tell how much money the department has saved, Simek said.

Cicero
BUDGETED: $982,000
USED: $887,000 (at of the end of October)

During the 2008 calendar year, Cicero leaders budgeted $982,000 for fuel for all city vehicles, Cicero town spokesman Dan Proft said. By the end of October, the city spent $887,000 on fuel, he said.

“That’s up substantially from 2007,” said Proft, when gas bills totaled about $733,000.
Fuel bills this year typically totaled about $88,700 a month, with spikes during the summer to about $119,000 each month, he said.

“Certainly the summer months, and the unusually high spike, hurt us,” he said. “We’re looking to be over budget ... by about 6 or 7 percent. It depends on the weather.”

Municipalities such as Cicero often may transfer any extra money in the motor fuel tax or working cash accounts to cover overages attributed to fuel expenses, he said. Cicero officials bought a handful of hybrid cars to cut gas costs, but any savings won’t be seen until early 2009, Proft added.

Riverside
BUDGETED: $84,000
USED: $101,000 (projected for the year)

Riverside budgeted $84,000 for this year but is projected to spend about $101,000 for the whole year.

Finance Director Kevin Wachtel said the budget was completed more than a year ago and a couple of things helped add revenue to the general fund this year — delayed property tax money and additional fee money from vehicle stickers — leaving the village with more than they expected. The general fund is the account in which the village will find the money to pay for the gas they need.

“We collected more than we budgeted,” Wachtel said.

Brookfield
BUDGETED $275,000
USED: $233,780 (as of Sept. 30)

Brookfield budgeted $275,000 and has spent $233,780 as of Sept. 30.

Village Manager Rick Ginex said  Brookfield will spend more than the amount budgeted for this year, but by how much is unknown. That will be determined by the weather in the next few of months.

La Grange Park
BUDGETED: $86,060
USED: Figures unavailable

In La Grange Park, the village purchases gasoline at retail outlets while the Public Works Department maintains its own diesel fuel pumps.

Assistant village manager Julia Cedillo said because fuel is such a small portion of the village’s total budget, rising costs will have a minimal effect overall.

The Police Department has budgeted $47,000, the Fire Department has $14,500, public works has $23,000 and the Building Department has $1,560 for the year.

“We’re in the middle of a budget cycle,” Cedillo said. “If we project the cost of gasoline, it does seem we will go over. But everything is under budget at this time. The price of gasoline is something every village always keeps its eye on. The village has put a number (of) policies in place to mitigate this.”

The Police Department last year replaced one hour of vehicle patrol with one of hour of foot patrol every day, she added. When fuel prices began spiking, the village instituted a no-idling policy for all staff vehicles to cut fuel waste, with the exception of ambulances, which need to keep the engine running to power the onboard equipment.

Public works vehicles are regulated carefully to an allowed time for use and are not used for any hauling outside of the village.

“Anything like that is outsourced,” Cedillo said.

Westchester
BUDGETED: $175,300
USED: $115,800 (as of Oct. 31)

Westchester deputy village manager Jack Norton said officials budgeted $175,300 this year for gas and diesel costs for police, fire, public works and all other municipal vehicles.

The current fiscal year began May 1 and ends April 30, 2009. Because of that, Norton said they were able to budget a bit more for the current year because they went over budget last year when they budgeted $163,500 and spent $185,000.

Norton, who also serves as the village’s finance director, said that as of Oct. 31 Westchester officials have spent $115,800.

Village officials are asking staff in each department to go through their budgets and see where they are over or under in each area.

“If they are going over in one category, then we’re going to cut from another area,” Norton said.
The village usually waits until December to start figuring out what to budget for the next fiscal year, Norton said. He noted it’s been difficult to figure how far over budget they are and how much to budget for next year because gas prices have been so unstable and their current projections assume $4 per gallon gas prices.

“I’m not really sure where the rates are going,” Norton said.

Janice Hoppe, Danya Hooker and Joe Sinopoli contributed to this report.