High fuel prices not impacting City of Maricopa

As gasoline climbs past $3 a gallon and families look at their summer budgets, the City of Maricopa government is keeping its fuel funds healthy.

Adam Wolfe, public information officer for the city, said higher gas prices are not affecting the Maricopa’s bottom line.

“Overall, they’re actually not that bad,” Wolfe said. “Through much of 2019, the gas prices were lower than average, and it’s spiked up now. It’s not impacting us that much.”

The City’s vehicle fleet includes police, fire, streets, parks and general employee transportation. But the fuel budget is trending below last year.

The City spent about $337,000 on gasoline and oil in fiscal year 2018. This year, Maricopa has spent less than $276,000 to date and the end of the fiscal year is June 30.

“It is still significantly lower than last year,” Wolfe said. “For organizations such as ADOT or even counties, they have so many more vehicles that drive so much farther. They would probably see a much more significant increase with their gas prices. They rely on transportation so much more than a city does. We are more contained within our city limits.”