DIXFIELD — Regional School Unit 56 officials announced they have not only locked in for fuel for this school year, but budgeted enough money to cover those costs.

Kenny Robbins, longtime buildings, grounds and transportation director, explained the process to members of the school board at their Sept. 8 meeting.

“It’s good and bad,” he said. “I worked with three companies. It was interesting, but it was frustrating,” he said. “It was like a two-hour period. When we decided to lock in, within 20 to 30 minutes, one was up 9 cents (per gallon), the other one was up 5 cents. This was like 11 o’clock. One company guaranteed a price until noon, the other until 2 o’clock that afternoon. Within that short period of time we were calling back and forth, we finally locked in with Dead River (Rumford), so they’ve got the propane, diesel and heating oil,” he said.

Robbins said they locked in diesel at $4.75 a gallon, and $4.49 for heating oil. He noted that a couple months ago, the locked in price for propane with the same company was $1.79 per gallon, up a nickel over last year. Prices are good until July 2027.

“It’s high, but thank goodness we put that extra money away. It was kind of a nail-biter there for a few hours,” he said.

The purchase included 50,000 gallons of heating oil and 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

“This was not easy for us because, as you know, we had money in the budget and then we had the reserve fund that the town voted that we could set aside for this,” Superintendent Pam Doyen said. “We finally decided that we’re better off to lock in, knowing we have enough, rather than end with things at $6 (per gallon) and we can’t afford it.”

At the time, she said it was projected that diesel could be up over $6.

“So, we couldn’t just sit on it,” she said. “We felt it was better, financially, to lock in and spend it than to end up not locking in and not having enough to do what we needed to do.”

It happened that diesel fuel increased to $6.23 per gallon as of Sept. 13.

“There was a period of time that the companies wouldn’t even offer a lock in because it was just so volatile,” Robbins said. “It was just all over the place. “Diesel today was $6 on the street. So, I think we made a smart move, but hopefully for next year, it does come down if they ever get things straightened out.”

To have the total come within estimates from the regular budget and the reserve count, Doyen said she is “incredibly happy to have had the foresight to ask for and have the voters approve a reserve account.”

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