SAN JOSE, CA — For July, San Jose’s fleet of 2,863 vehicles or other gas-using units cost $48,000 more than budgeted, as measured by dividing the budget by 12 months, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Including August overruns, the city now projects it will wind up paying $1.1 million more than the $3.8 million budgeted plus $250,000 in backup reserves by the end of the fiscal year. San Jose’s budgeters figured the city would need only $3.8 million, instead of last year’s $3.87 million, partly because the city was $130,000 under budget last year, and partly because the city has removed about 300 vehicles from the fleet at the recommendation of auditors over the past few years. The budget did anticipate some increase in gas prices, and the city even set aside its first-ever reserve in the event of gas price increases. “What we’re finding is we may have underestimated the level of the increase,” said Peter Jensen, interim director of general services for San Jose, as quoted in the San Jose Mercury News. “We are watching it very closely.”
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