Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – It’s bad enough to fill up your own gas tank. But what if you are responsible for fueling a fleet of school buses?

When the subject came up at this past week’s District 186 school board meeting business manager Steve Miller says there’s a formula. Let’s assume a wholesale price of $3.19 a gallon. “$3.19 is not what we pay; it’s what the fuel company pays. Then part of the bid process is them telling us, we’re also going to charge this for taxes. There are four or five taxes they have to collect. And their profit margin, their markup.”

It might sound complicated, but Miller says it’s not. “Forgetting that $3.19 that the gas costs, it’s just the markup that they are going to give us, and we compare the markup that they are going to put on the gas. So, if its $3.19 or $2.79, it doesn’t matter. The markup is going to be the same, consistent for a gallon of gas, and that’s what we’re bidding out. So, if gas prices go down, then we will see those prices go down as well.”

Also, transportation provider First Student, said Miller, rebates the district a dollar per gallon.