As prices skyrocket each week, the three small cities in east Multnomah county have come up with a creative approach to buying gasoline, though they're not sure how much they will actually save.

Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village are purchasing gas for some or all of their city vehicles from the Reynolds School District. The district's prices are significantly lower than the general public's, Reynolds' Director of Business Services Chuck Rhoads said, because the district purchases large volumes of gas and diesel at bulk prices to run its buses and maintenance vehicles.

"It's a good cooperative effort between municipalities, so we can help keep costs down," Rhoads said.

Before the agreements with the school districts -- which went into effect earlier this year for Troutdale and this month for Fairview and Wood Village -- the cities' vehicles fueled up at special-account stations or at retail gas stations in town, paying the regular gas price minus some federal and local taxes from which the cities are exempt.

Now, they fuel up at the district's fueling station at its Fairview bus yard, and pay the district's bulk price plus 3 cents a gallon. On June 18, when the district made its most recent purchase, its price for unleaded gasoline was $3.609 a gallon, while buying 2,000 gallons.

The city of Fairview will have all its 18 vehicles -- most used by the police and public works departments -- fuel up at the district site. Three other police vehicles, which the city leases from the state, will not use the district's fueling station. This fiscal year, Fairview purchased an average of 1,000 gallons a month.

Troutdale will have only its police and building-inspection department cars use the Reynolds pump, a total of 20 vehicles. Last year, the two departments combined used an average of 1,912 gallons a month. Wood Village will buy the smallest amount, for five public works trucks, which last year combined to use an average of 109 gallons a month.

How much money the cities can save remains to be seen, for several reasons: Ever-rising gas prices, the relatively small amount of gas they use, the fact that city vehicles have to wait for school buses to fuel, and the distance to the school district's pumps (some Troutdale employees have to drive two miles each way, on city time).

City officials said they did not get specific estimates of how much they would save when the district first proposed the agreement but assumed they "would save several cents per gallon at a minimum," Troutdale Administrator John Anderson said.

In exchange for the price break, the district requires the cities' help with the maintenance of equipment. Also, the regular presence of Troutdale and Fairview police cars provides additional security at the district's bus yard, officials said. And, because the district will be buying even more unleaded gas, it may be able to get even better prices from distributors.

The exchange is legal: The school district does not get its discount on gas because it serves students but because it buys in bulk.

The district owns its transportation system and bids on fuel at least once or twice a month. In the past six months, it bought an average of 2,700 gallons of unleaded gas and 13,400 gallons of low-sulfur diesel a month. The district has 80 buses and 18 gasoline-run maintenance vehicles.

With the three cities coming on board, Rhoads anticipates the district may have to fill its gasoline tank more than once or twice a month. City officials said they will evaluate the data to see whether there are substantial savings once they receive invoices from the school district.

"Any way we can save money, we want to do that," Fairview Manager Joe Gall said. "Especially if we can get a better deal by combining than we could get on our own."

Gosia Wozniacka: 503-294-5936; gosiawozniaka@news.oregonian.com
For more information, contact the City of Fairview's City Manager Joseph Gall at gallj@ci.fairview.or.us