Committee backs analyst amendment to raise Western State Oils fuel contract and continues item for one week

The Budget and Finance Committee accepted a budget analyst's recommendation to amend and increase the city's fuel contract with Western State Oils and agreed to continue the item for one week.

Jennifer Brown, assistant director at the Office of Contract Administration, told the committee the term contract, which covers gasoline, diesel and biofuels and began Sept. 1, 2009, has produced city fuel spending of about $25 million to $27 million per year and that rising fuel prices prompted a request for a contingency. Brown said the department requested increasing the total not-to-exceed amount to $78,300,000 to cover anticipated fuel spend for the option period ending Aug. 31, 2012.

The budget analyst, Mr. Rose, reviewed the committee's report and recommended a $2,720,000 increase to the requested amount in the resolution, which would raise the proposed not-to-exceed cap from $75,580,000 to $78,300,000; he recommended approving the resolution as amended. No members of the public spoke on the item.

Chair Carmen Chu asked for the committee's concurrence on the budget analyst's recommendation, which members took without objection. Because the amendment increasing the contract was substantive, the committee agreed without objection to continue the amended item for one week to allow for any additional processing or notice required for that change.

The committee did not take a recorded roll-call vote; the action to accept the analyst's recommendation and to continue the item was made by unanimous consent and will return to committee after the one-week continuance.