It's not just the average citizen feeling the pinch at the gas pump anymore.
With gas prices in the area creeping upwards of $3.50 a gallon, and the country-wide price slowly rising, the Dodge City Police Department is starting to feel the sting.
Dodge City Police Chief John Ball said the police department, like many people in the community, is starting to keep a tighter rein on the use of gasoline.
"I see the budget," Ball said. "I see what prices are doing."
City Clerk Nannette Pogue said to date, the city has spent $55,000 on gas filling up the department's 13 patrol cruisers and 10 other vehicles. For 2008, the police department was budgeted $120,000 for gas for all 23 vehicles.
With almost half gone a little under halfway through the year, Pogue said the department didn't have cause to worry yet. However, if gas prices continue to climb, there is a danger the police will have to start juggling money to meet their gas needs.
"They can get more money," Pogue said. "They just have to cut back elsewhere in their department."
And unlike other departments, where the city can request that employees use city-owned vehicles less often, it wasn't really an option to ask officers to stop using city cars.
"That would be like telling them to stop doing their job," Pogue said.
Ball said the department has begun encouraging officers to stop on occasion and possibly do more stationary radar work.
"Having said that, I think our public expects to see us on the streets doing our job," he said. "I think that's our primary duty."
And when it comes to cutting meat from one part of the budget to transplant to another, such as gas money as prices continue to rise, Ball said it's a delicate balancing act.
Ball said he receives an invoice every month giving him an update on where the department stands budget-wise. If he sees gas expenses start to outstrip the budget, it borders on a shuffle game.
"We can look at how much we're spending on other supplies," Ball said. "As far as our city duties, there's probably not much we can cut there."
When the department gets down to it, though, it becomes a matter of diminishing returns, Ball said. The department could cut back on out-of-town training. And although that would save on gas, Ball said, local officers would not have the opportunity to get necessary training.
"There's a trade-off there," he said.
For now, Ball said his department would just have to keep a keener eye on the budget to make sure his officers could continue their patrols, even as gas prices rise.
Reach Mark Vierthaler at (620) 408-9932 or e-mail him at mark.vierthaler@dodgeglobe.com.
Police cruisers by the numbers
• Patrol vehicles: 13.
• Other vehicles: 10.
• Gallons of gas in April: 2,222 (roughly $7,700).
• Miles per gallon: 15 mpg in-town.
• Cars out on an average day: Seven.
• Weekend cars: 10.
Source: City Hall.
