OXFORD – With 40 school buses on the road covering about 4,000 miles a day, fuel costs are beginning to eat away at SAD 17’s budget.

“We have spent $122,748 of a $200,000 budget,” Business Manager Cathy Fanjoy said of the district’s fiscal 2008 fuel budget.

Fanjoy said officials estimate the fuel budget may run as much as $70,000 over budget this fiscal year.

In November, directors voted unanimously to freeze $100,000 of a $175,0000 contingency fund in anticipation of heating oil and diesel fuel budget overruns. The move was recommended by the Finance Committee and was based on a study by Superintendent Mark Eastman and Fanjoy.

Earlier in the season, officials purchased about 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which was expected to meet half the district needs this year even though experts had warned against pre-buying fuel because prices might go down. They didn’t. The district pays $2.479 per gallon for diesel fuel.

Because of price unpredictability, officials said efforts to contract with one company for the whole year were unsuccessful.

The district also attempted to buy its fuel as a cooperative with towns and SAD 39 in its last contract with Union Oil, which is based out of Portland.

SAD 39, however, decided to go it alone after consolidating some bus routes, SAD 39 Financial Manager Penny Jasper said.

“We went out on our own,” said Jasper, who contracts with Murray Oil in Turner for diesel fuel.

SAD 39 pays $3.15 per gallon, but the price has fluctuated throughout the season, Jasper said. As examples, the price of fuel was $2.70 per gallon in October and $2.49 in September, she said.

The price is “rack plus,” which means the district pays a price at the pickup point in Portland plus delivery charges.

SAD 39 has used $23,000 of its $60,000 budget, Jasper said.

With 13 buses running 52 miles a day and prices constantly fluctuating, there is no guarantee SAD 39’s budget will remain in the black either, Jasper said.