OXFORD – School officials have locked in a heating oil price that they hope will keep the budget as low as possible as winter prices continue to fluctuate.

At just under $2.64 per gallon, school officials believe they have gotten the best price they can for now.

“It’s the best price we’ve seen in weeks,” said Superintendent Mark Eastman, who said prices were recently higher than $3 per gallon. Officials had budgeted heating oil at $2 per gallon, and with the locked-in rate heating oil costs are expected to be an estimated $125,000 over budget.

Eastman said officials will watch prices and if a drop is seen in February they will try to grab the price and lock it in for the next winter season. They contract with C.N. Brown for heating oil now.

“We’re looking at what we can get for next year,” he told SAD 17 directors this week. “There’s a whole range of prices across the state.”

Diesel fuel has been locked in at $2.45, which is only slightly over the budgeted $2.20 per gallon. “It’s not as bad as the heating oil,” he said.

The total amount budgeted for heating fuel and diesel fuel is $150,000, according to Business Manager Cathy Fanjoy. “We have this overage mostly covered by freezing $100,000 of contingency,” she said of the $175,000 contingency account in the district’s $35.5 million budget.