Gas tax relief isn't reaching Richmond County school buses: transportation spending runs 7% over last year

Each school morning, roughly 160 Richmond County buses carry Augusta's children to class. The gas-tax suspension Gov. Brian P. Kemp ordered in late September is saving the school system only about $25,000 on its October diesel — while the district says transportation spending is running about 7% higher than at this same point last year, on pace for a roughly $500,000 overrun it plans to cover from its own reserves.

The reason the fuel bill is climbing even while the tax is suspended is simple enough at the pump: CSRA diesel is running about $6.09 a gallon, and Georgia's public school systems are not exempt from the motor-fuel excise tax on the fuel their buses burn. A school-bus exemption that ran from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2015, expired and was never renewed.

Kemp suspended collection of Georgia's motor-fuel excise tax for 30 days starting at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 29, declaring a state of emergency and citing global market volatility. Executive Order 10.06.26.01 later extended the suspension through 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 5. The suspended rate is 33.3 cents per gallon on gasoline and 37.3 cents on diesel — about $3.33 off a 10-gallon fill-up, $5 off 15 gallons, and $6.66 off 20 gallons for the family car, with local sales taxes and other charges still on top.

"Over the past several years, with the help of our partners in the General Assembly, we've been able to give billions of dollars in relief to hardworking Georgians," Kemp said. "We've remained committed to helping them and our small businesses fight through the tough times, and that's why I'm taking this action today to give further relief."

At the bus barn

The account taking the hit is the Richmond County Board of Education's Transportation Energy/Fuel line item, set at $1,700,000 in the FY2027 operating budget. After just the first quarter, the district was tracking at roughly 32% of that annual fuel allocation against a planned 25%, according to Bobby A. Smith, the school system's chief financial officer.

The rainy-day fund

"Our priority is the children. We want to make sure they can get to school, they get educated, they get fed," Smith said. "So there are no changes in our operations. We're going to continue to use any reserves we need to continue to fund operations as normal so it doesn't have any impact on the students."

The school system reported about $2 million in reserves available.

The fleet still burns diesel

Richmond County runs a fleet of about 160 vehicles, and its Transportation Department costs more than $20 million a year to operate. The district receives about $7 million in state fuel assistance — a small slice of that bill.

The district also has 25 electric school buses, a possible route off diesel, but only eight were in service at last report, and the system has not run them long enough to measure meaningful fuel savings.