by Ken Lahmers
Editor
Aurora -- Many Northeast Ohio families are having a tough time managing their budgets because of skyrocketing utility, fuel and food costs.
So what about a school district that serves 3,100 students and has to heat and light several buildings, feed lunches to students and keep 20-plus buses running?
Because fuel used to deliver food is increasing in price, food costs could also rise for the next school year. But it's electricity costs that worry Aurora school Treasurer Bill Volosin the most.
FirstEnergy has filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to collect $340 million more in annual revenue from all customers -- residential, commercial and industrial -- beginning in 2009.
That's about 30 percent more in distribution rates, which generally recover a utility's costs for local facilities and equipment such as poles and wires.
Volosin said Aurora pays about $450,000 a year for electricity. If the full rate hike is approved, that would add about $135,000.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers Council believes the rate increase should be cut by more than $300 million, and called for a new investigation to address the utility's service reliability.
"The PUCO hasn't decided on the request [for a rate increase], so right now we're just waiting to see what happens," said Volosin.
MEANWHILE, the treasurer said the district expects to spend about $170,000 on diesel fuel this year to run its buses, all of which operate on higher-priced diesel.
"Just a couple of years ago, we were spending $70,000 to $80,000 a year," he said.
As for food costs, Volosin admitted they could rise depending on how fuel costs affect food delivery.
"We're aware of that possibility, and once we revise our five-year plan in May, we'll have to decide whether to raise lunch prices or hold the line," he explained.
"The Board usually makes a decision on lunch prices in August, just before the new year starts. Right now we charge $2.50 for adults and high school-middle school students and $2 at the elementaries."
Volosin said the last time the district raised lunch prices was a couple of years ago.
Volosin said the district purchases its food and fuel through a cooperative program offered by the Ohio Schools Council, "but you can only go so low."
The treasurer said the district has budgeted about $267,000 for milk, bread and other food items this year, and its total food service budget -- including equipment and personnel -- is $644,000.
That is about 2.5 percent of the district's total budget.
"Since our last lunch price hike, we've been able to bring our food service budget to a break-even point, when before we usually ran a deficit," he said.
"If the prices increase significantly, though, we might be back to paying more than we're taking in. That's why we'll have to talk about possible lunch price hikes in the next few months."
THE HUDSON school district's major food vendors are predicting a 10 percent to 12 percent increase in food prices next year, according to food service director Maureen Faron.
She noted she has no plans to increase lunch prices. "It's a challenge. We'll do the best we can to spend the money we have smarter," she said.
Faron said the problem is the cost of fuel for delivery, adding even locally grown items have increased in cost in the last year.
"It doesn't matter if more farmers are planting corn if the cost for delivering it keeps rising," she said. "Corn is going to ethanol, so corn costs more, which makes cereal, grain, milk and beef cost more."
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, poultry prices have increased 6.9 percent from last year, dairy prices 13.3 percent, milk prices 16.8 percent and egg prices 25.3 percent.
Other items that have increased, according to the USDA, are pork, beef, baked goods, sugar, sweets, carbonated drinks, coffee and juice.
"Everything is going up; it's quite unreasonable," said Faron.
Hudson's food service budget for 2008-09, which district officials are making final purchase orders for, is estimated at $1.7 million in expenditures and $1.9 million in revenue, according to Treasurer Bart Griffith.
"It's scary," said Faron. "We're trying very creative ways to get grants and rearrange the lunch menu without increasing prices."
Editor's note: Hudson Hub-Times associate editor Lauren Krupar contributed to this story.
E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com
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