MONROE - Tom Durtschi, Albany, pumped 40 gallons of diesel fuel into his truck with a front-mounted snow plow Wednesday morning at Kubly Tire and Service Station in Monticello.
It cost him about $150.
Fortunately for Durtschi, he wasn't paying that fuel bill; the truck belongs to the Town of Mt. Pleasant. Taxpayers will be picking up the bill.
Diesel was selling for $3.83 per gallon Wednesday at Kubly's station; gas was $3.45.
Jerry Kubley, owner of the independent gas station, said the rising fuel costs are not making owners more money.
"It has nothing to do with us station owners," he said.
He's paying increasing prices for his supply, too, and suppliers expect to be paid within one day.
"There's no float now," he said about owners' cash turnover.
Gas station owners and refineries price their product based not on what it costs to produce it, but on what it costs to replace it. Stations that gets shipments of gas several times a week must constantly adjust their prices to keep up with the changing costs of their shipments.
Large gas station owners are paying about $20,000 more a day for their fuel supply, Kubly said, and new regulations on upgrades to station safety and owner certifications, costing thousands of dollars, are cutting into profits.
In fact, there are only two or three pennies per gallon in profit selling gas for most station owners.
"It can break you- mom and pop and some big guys," Kubly added. "The cost of staying in business is absolutely outrageous."
Hopes to close the ever-widening loss margin by selling more fuel are dimming, too.
"Volume has fallen, because people are driving more efficient cars," Kubly said.
Durtschi doesn't have an option on whether to buy less fuel or a more efficient truck. He's charged with keeping the township's roads cleared of snow.
Taxpayers have to decide how much they "want to pay in taxes if you want to keep the roads clean," he said.
Volunteers do have an option to stop buying the higher-priced fuel, and Dave Fisher, wellness and prevention coordinator for Green County, said he is always conscious of that fact. He coordinates the volunteers who deliver meals to home-bound persons.
"Higher gas prices will very much have an impact on our volunteer recruitment process," he said. "Most of our volunteers are seniors living on fixed incomes."
The program needs 20 volunteers per week to deliver meals around the City of Monroe. Each travels about 6-12 miles a day.
Rural delivery trips are longer. One man travels 60 miles, twice a week, to deliver meals to six recipients.
Rural meal deliveries were cut back, from three to just two times per week, about eight months ago because of costs.
"We might consider cutting back again, if gas goes up," Fisher said.
The county contracts for meals delivered five day a week to nutrition centers in Albany, Brodhead and Monroe. That contract runs through December, and Fisher believes the county will see a raise in that contract price next year.
Gas prices reached $4 per gallon in Monroe during the summer of 2008. It was about $2.70 a year ago.
Through the first eight weeks of 2011, national average gross profit for gas stations was 4.9 percent, according to the Oil Price Information Service. In 2010, it was 6 percent.
It cost him about $150.
Fortunately for Durtschi, he wasn't paying that fuel bill; the truck belongs to the Town of Mt. Pleasant. Taxpayers will be picking up the bill.
Diesel was selling for $3.83 per gallon Wednesday at Kubly's station; gas was $3.45.
Jerry Kubley, owner of the independent gas station, said the rising fuel costs are not making owners more money.
"It has nothing to do with us station owners," he said.
He's paying increasing prices for his supply, too, and suppliers expect to be paid within one day.
"There's no float now," he said about owners' cash turnover.
Gas station owners and refineries price their product based not on what it costs to produce it, but on what it costs to replace it. Stations that gets shipments of gas several times a week must constantly adjust their prices to keep up with the changing costs of their shipments.
Large gas station owners are paying about $20,000 more a day for their fuel supply, Kubly said, and new regulations on upgrades to station safety and owner certifications, costing thousands of dollars, are cutting into profits.
In fact, there are only two or three pennies per gallon in profit selling gas for most station owners.
"It can break you- mom and pop and some big guys," Kubly added. "The cost of staying in business is absolutely outrageous."
Hopes to close the ever-widening loss margin by selling more fuel are dimming, too.
"Volume has fallen, because people are driving more efficient cars," Kubly said.
Durtschi doesn't have an option on whether to buy less fuel or a more efficient truck. He's charged with keeping the township's roads cleared of snow.
Taxpayers have to decide how much they "want to pay in taxes if you want to keep the roads clean," he said.
Volunteers do have an option to stop buying the higher-priced fuel, and Dave Fisher, wellness and prevention coordinator for Green County, said he is always conscious of that fact. He coordinates the volunteers who deliver meals to home-bound persons.
"Higher gas prices will very much have an impact on our volunteer recruitment process," he said. "Most of our volunteers are seniors living on fixed incomes."
The program needs 20 volunteers per week to deliver meals around the City of Monroe. Each travels about 6-12 miles a day.
Rural delivery trips are longer. One man travels 60 miles, twice a week, to deliver meals to six recipients.
Rural meal deliveries were cut back, from three to just two times per week, about eight months ago because of costs.
"We might consider cutting back again, if gas goes up," Fisher said.
The county contracts for meals delivered five day a week to nutrition centers in Albany, Brodhead and Monroe. That contract runs through December, and Fisher believes the county will see a raise in that contract price next year.
Gas prices reached $4 per gallon in Monroe during the summer of 2008. It was about $2.70 a year ago.
Through the first eight weeks of 2011, national average gross profit for gas stations was 4.9 percent, according to the Oil Price Information Service. In 2010, it was 6 percent.