By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Inflation threatens to take a bite out of the Buchanan County budget.
Presiding County Commissioner Lee Sawyer says the county likely will see it hit the budget the hardest as gas prices rise. Sawyer points out between patrols by the sheriff’s department and the road department, the county uses a lot of fuel.
“Although we budgeted for increases in some of those areas, it’s hard to predict and hard to know how much,” Sawyer says during his appearance on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, you hate to see those inflationary costs affect your situation, but it’s happening.”
Sawyer says as crude oil prices head toward $100 a barrel, the cost of fuel takes a bigger bite out of the county budget. Sawyer adds it’s no different than what consumers are facing when they go to the gas station.
“There’s a lot of people going and filling up their truck for work that’s now $60 or $70 to fill up when it was $30 or $35 fill up a year, year-and-a-half ago,” Sawyer says. “That makes a significant difference and that’s just a real impact.”
He says the county did catch a break in health care costs with health insurance premiums for county employees holding steady even with the increased costs of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.