Pittsburgh to spend an extra $2M to cover gas costs for city vehicles

Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday approved allocating an extra $2 million to cover the cost of gas and vehicle maintenance for the city’s fleet this year.

The city is expected to spend about $5 million on gas this year — about $2 million more than last year — to keep its fleet running amid high gas prices.

The city spent $3.2 million in gas last year to fuel its vehicles. City Council reallocated an extra $1.4 million to cover the increase in gas costs this year.

Legislation unanimously approved Tuesday will move $1.4 million originally earmarked for city utilities to instead cover those added gas costs. An additional $600,000 — also originally allocated for utility costs — will fund necessary vehicle maintenance.

Officials said the moves should not impact the city’s ability to pay its utility bills this year.

Though gas prices now are falling, they soared to about $5 a gallon this summer.

Ahead of a preliminary vote on the measure last week, Councilwoman Erika Strassburger called for the city to convert to a fully electric fleet in the coming years to avoid the impacts of volatile gas prices.