FARMINGTON – Selectmen voted Monday to buy diesel fuel through SAD 9 at the school district’s cost plus 1 cent per gallon administrative fee.

In an effort to save money, the town is looking into consolidating some of its purchases with other entities in Farmington. The town was considering relocating its fuel tanks from the old highway garage to the new one, but it’s exploring other options. The cost to move the tanks and set them up at the new garage is estimated to be nearly $20,000.

The town uses about 30,000 gallons of diesel per year, which would equal about a $300 annual administrative fee, Town Manager Richard Davis said. SAD 9 uses about 50,000 gallons of fuel and bids its fuel through Synernet, a program that allows school systems to realize savings, and could get a better bid price with 80,000 gallons, Davis said.

Last year, SAD 9 was locked into 86 cents a gallon for diesel fuel while the town averaged $1.01 to $1.04 per gallon, Farmington Public Works Director Mitch Boulette said.

The town would be provided with four metered slots with two keys each and would have to buy the remaining needed keys at $5 each, Boulette said. SAD 9 would bill the town once a month for diesel.

Town vehicles would go to the bus garage located at the Middle School complex on Middle Street for refueling.

Boulette said he saw it as “an inconvenience but not a great inconvenience” when asked by Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Wright how he felt about the proposal.

“I think we can work together,” Boulette said. “I look at it as saving money.”

Four of the public works’ vehicles operate on gasoline and most of the Police Department’s vehicles run on gas for a combined total of about 20,000 gallons per year.

The town is exploring options to buy gas in bulk with other entities such as the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, or having SAD 9 buy it through the town. The town has a 4,000-gallon tank for gasoline. SAD 9 currently buys its gasoline with a credit card at Irving stations, Davis said. They get no price break, they just don’t have to pay the federal tax, he said.

According to Davis, the state Department of Transportation has diesel tanks at each of its garages but uses so little gas it only has it available in Dixfield. For any other gasoline purchases, it uses an Irving card system and pays 5 cents below the pump price.

University of Maine at Farmington has various credit cards that it uses around New England. UMF buys its fuel for its motor pool at Irving, Davis stated.

Davis said police Chief Richard Caton would like to see the gasoline tank at the new garage, but if pursuing other options he would prefer to go to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department for refueling.

But Selectman Dennis Pike, also Franklin County sheriff, said he didn’t know if the county had the tank capacity to supply both his department and Farmington’s.

Davis recommended in his memo that if the county option is not feasible, the town acquire an Irving credit card. The town could track the cost over a year’s use against the usual gasoline cost in relation to the price in order to determine any savings or additional cost, he suggested.

“It would seem to me that, even if we ended up paying a few cents more for gasoline and diesel fuel, it would be quite a few years before we could equal the $20,000 capital cost of relocating the current tanks,” Davis stated. If we paid 5 cents per gallon more, for example, at 50,000 gallons per year (total gas and diesel) it would take 12.5 years to pay for moving the tanks.”

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