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2-II-200J

A chilling situation
Schools anc businesses struggle with high gas costs
By RONALD LEDERMM'Jr. riedemian@limanews.com (419) 993-2095

Faurot Principal Bonnie Brown opens a library window, demonstrating how many Lima schools are plagued by old windows and doors that don't keep the buildings insulated.

Ed Davis looks at his gas bill and wonders when he or another laundr>' business will close shop. John McEwan looks at the gas bUl and wonders what else he can cut. Davis owns, among other Lima businesses, American Coin Laundiy McEwan is Lima schools superintendent. The jobs may seem worlds apart, but the two men find themselves this winter doing the same work determining how to pay the gas bills. McEwan's district is facing an almost 70 percent overall increase from a year ago, while American Coin Laundry saw more than a 150 percent jump in the same month from a year before. Businesses and schools, like every other institution and home owner, ai-e facing dramaticjumps in the cost of natural gas and other heating oils. The shortage is made worse by the higher demand caused by winter being intensely colder than the past several yeai'S. Some businesses may be able to adjust prices to absorb costs. A selfsen'e coin laundiy isn't one of them. "It's going to force businesses to close. That's ail it's going to do," Davis said, adding that he had shortened the amount of time his diyers run. "Eveiybody in town has cut the time down. That's your proceeds.

CRAK. ()I),SZ photos IlK- lini.i News

Faurot Elementary School custodian Richard Biedelschies opens a valve on One of the school's boilers. Lima schools Superintendent John McE-

wan says the district and its aging facilities are ill-prepared to cope with a 70 percent overall increase in gas costs from a year ago.

but you can't chai-ge the people what they're charging us. It's just a nasty situation. "I don't want to spread doom and gloom, but that's what it is."

THE RISING COST OF GAS

A comparison of natural-gas costs for Lima schools and some individual schools in the district from last year to this year: January 2000 January 2001 School Faurot Elementaiy $3,450.05 $5,729.98 living Elementary $4,365.47 $8,599.01 Lowell Elementary $1,780.96 $818.13 $2,013.36 West Middle School $1,474.81 $4,281.38 Lima Senior $3,440.88 $152,471.46 Districtwide $48,543.52 Source: Lima schools

Facilities time-worn
The gas-cost increase means no cUscretionary spending for the Lima schools. The age and condition of the district's buildings intensify the problems. Several business owners GAS COST/All

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said they have turned the heat down in their businesses; McEwan doesn't have that option. "There's nothing we can do about it," he said. "We can't turn the heat down to 60 in the schools. ... We are not efficient. You start looking at Faurot (Elementary) School and some of the others they are not efficient boiler systems and temperature controls." Many of the district's buildings are plagued by old windows and doors that don't keep the facilities insulated. The Wapakoneta district, on the other hand, has seen only a 33 percent spike, business manager Don Amett said. While Wapakoneta has buildings dating back to the 1930s, it has a relatively new high school, providing efficiency that Lima does not enjoy "The cost of gas for Faurot Elementary, for example, was just less than $13,200 for all of 1999. In 2000, the yearlong cost rose to $17,151. After only January this year, the district has already paid $5,729.96 for gas, the monthly cost rising almost $2,300 over last year, compared to about a $1,300 jump from 1999 to 2000 in January. That cost is for the gas itself. The district is unable to sepai-ate transmission costs for each school, Treasurer Pat Greenwood said. The 69 percent increase the district has seen this yeai- covers all aspects of a g:as bUl, not just the cost of gas, she said. The actual cost of natural gas accounts for about two-thirds of a monthly gas bill. The district this January alone spent the equivalent of 44 percent of its entire natural-gas cost for all of last year, according to data Greenwood provided. And, January 2000 accounted for only about 14 percent of the entire year's bill. Davis and McEwan join many others who can't wait for warmer weather The National Propane Gas Association estimates that costs are two to three times those from last year nationwide. The Energy Information Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Energy, estimates natural gas prices will be 70 percent higher this year. Lima and Cridersyille. Brenneman paid 57 percent, 61 percent and 75 percent more for gas at his three locations in the last six months of 2000 than in the last half of 1999. "This is my 21st year in the business. I've never faced anything like this," he said. "It really puts the pressure on you. I've had to make adjustments in my prices. I don't even know if that's going to cover it. I'm doing everything I can."

Warm weather wanted

Greg Wannemacher is another business owner who is high on the list of people waiting for better weather. His company, Wannemacher Truck Lines, already was paying more for fuel. The company can turn down the heat, but only so far. Go too low and the sprinkler system freezes, Wannemacher said. Wannemacher has seen fuel costs eat into his revenue stream, moving from 8.6 percent of revenues in 1998 to 13.5 percent last year, so the lising cost of heating his Hanthom Road facility leaves him shaking his head. Truck companies are generally in yearlong contracts, so the heating cost is another his company has to eat. "Utilities for the year were only like 1.1 percent" of total revenue previously, Wannemacher said. "But, in the month of December, they were 2.3 percent. That's quite substantial when looked at as a percentage. January will probably be worse." Phil Cecala also has watched his monthly bill increase. The Burgundy's Restaurant owner saw a bill for $1,600, followed a month later by a bill for $1,598. He's faced about a $400 increase in the monthly bill, an increase of a thirdfromthe usual cost. "Our menus are fixed. We're not able to do much about it," Cecala said. "We have to swallow it. It's a lot, but there's nothing we can do about it. I can't raise my prices for one month. It would cost more to change my menus." Davis, who ovms American Coin Laimdry, also owns two florist shops. He is able to use electric thermostats at those to regulate the temperatm-e and cost. He keeps an eye on what others in his business are doing and points to a Don Johnson Florist outlet converting a greenhouse into an oversized cooler for Valentine's Day storage. F^ced with a monthly gas bill at the laundry that jumped from $900 to $2,300, Davis said, it's the kind of move Don Johnson Florist made that wiU help a business survive. "We're all just tiying to figure out what to do," he said. "Twenty-three hundred a month is a pretty big chunk to come up with just for gas."

Time for action

The situation makes Bob Brenneman boil. He now talks of making phone calls or marching in Washington anything to draw attention to the situation he faces at his three laundry facilities. "I've never marched for anything in my life I'm 60 years old but this is serious," said Brenneman, who owns the combination dry cleaner and coin laundry Lima Fabric Care Center on South Main Street, as well as coin laundries in