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Fuel co-op is first for county
Setup could save funding
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Forsyth County News
With the cost of fuel again on the rise, Forsyth County plans to try something different.

Commissioners voted 4-0 in a work session Tuesday to participate in a cooperative fuel bid with Gwinnett and several other counties. Chairman Charles Laughinghouse was absent.

It’s a measure Purchasing Director Donna Kukarola said could save the county as much as $6,000 per year.

“When you buy a large amount of fuel at a set price, you tend to get better pricing,” Kukarola said Thursday. “It’s the economy of size.”

She said a fuel co-op is “when a number of counties get together and combine their total estimated usage and go out to bid as one unit.”

It will be the first time the county has participated in this type of arrangement.

“We’ve always bid out our fuel, but we’ve never done it with a co-op before,” Kukarola said. “With money being tight for all counties right now, we decided to look into it.”

Forsyth County government vehicles have used 580,824 gallons of fuel so far this year, at a cost of nearly $1.1 million.

Kukarola said staff did a cost analysis and they “believe there will be a cost savings.”

Commissioners agreed to participate in the North Georgia Fuel Co-Op with Mansfield Oil and D-Jay Petroleum.

Citing the contract, she said the county “buys fuel as needed at a set price,” and has the right “to opt out at any time.”