CHARLOTTE, N.C. --
Rising fuel prices are causing concern about possible shortfalls in the budgets for the Charlotte fire, police and sanitation departments.
Police, fire, and trash collectors do a lot of driving, so they use a lot of fuel.
Charlotte city leaders expect them to use 4.6 million gallons of fuel this year. Officials say every time fuel prices go up 10 cents, taxpayers, like Sierra Brown, have to spend about $475,000 more.
"What is there to say? I mean, everything is going up," said Brown.
Police, fire, and trash say they try to conserve fuel. In fact, fire officials say they ordered two trucks with equipment that automatically shuts the engine off when the fire pump isn't being used.
"If our fire trucks aren't pumping water, we don't need the big motor sitting there idling," said Deputy Chief Rich Granger Jr.
But police, fire, and trash can only cut back so much because they have a limited budget -- $9 million to get them through the end of the June. If the money runs out, they have to make cuts elsewhere or dip into the emergency fund.
"We have to get the police out there. We have to get the fire out there. We have to take up our trash. We have to do those. Those are our main roads of commitment. We have to do it," said council member Nancy Carter.
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