Commissioners heard a detailed explanation March 7 of how the county budgets for non-public school bus service, a contract-driven program in which private contractors own and operate the buses and the county reimburses operating costs.

George Erickson, speaking for the Department of Public Works and Transportation, said matching the Board of Education's driver rates, operation-and-maintenance factors and fuel assumptions would increase the county's non-public bus budget by about $1,700,733 in the FY12 request. Staff explained the county calculates rates using a two-tier driver rate (less than 10 years' experience versus more than 10 years), an hourly estimate (about 4.8 hours per driver per day), roughly 180 school days and fixed-cost add-ons for fringes and overhead. The county uses a maintenance factor of 0.60 while the Board of Education's current factor is higher (0.65 in prior materials), and staff said differences in how the per-vehicle allotment for replacement (PVA) is calculated also affect totals.

Fuel-price volatility is a key variable. Erickson said the county used a $3.21-per-gallon projection for gasoline in the FY12 submission (reflecting a 30¢ per-gallon margin added to recent averages). He noted diesel and gasoline prices had been rising earlier than usual in the calendar year and told commissioners staff would provide updated, two-week fuel-price analyses and the budget impact at the next meeting. Commissioners were told the non-public system drives roughly 720,000–725,000 miles per year, with buses averaging about 7.5 miles per gallon; those assumptions are part of the fuel-cost calculation.

Staff also described how the program is structured. Contractors own the buses and provide drivers; the county reimburses driver pay, training, fuel and a replacement stipend. Erickson said contractors typically replace buses at 12–15 years; the county allows up to 15 years for non-public buses and cited risk if replacements are deferred.

The board discussed the administrative difficulty and extra cost of attempting to fully unify non-public bus service with public-school transportation. Erickson and commissioners said full consolidation or matching Board of Education rates item-for-item would likely be more expensive and would be an iterative multi-year change rather than an immediate fix.

Staff said they will update price and impact estimates for fuel and present the updated numbers at the next work session.