The impact of sharply rising diesel fuel costs prompted the Metropolitan King County Council to unanimously call for a performance audit of King County Metro Transit to identify more efficient business processes and ensure the best allocation of resources in order to maintain levels of service.

“Skyrocketing fuel costs may soon lead the County Executive to propose a fuel surcharge or fare increase for Metro Transit,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Before we entertain such action, we need to assure bus riders that we are identifying every cost-savings and efficiency in the transit system.”

The recent spike in fuel costs is hitting Metro Transit especially hard, with the agency expecting a shortfall in its fuel budget of more than $30 million over this year and next. An aide to the County Executive today told the Council to expect a proposal for bridging the budget gap to come in the next few weeks.

The Council designated $300,000 from Metro’s operating budget, a sum which represents 3/100ths of one percent of Metro’s biennial operating budget of $1.1 billion, to pay for a performance audit that will be used to inform the 2010-2011 Metro biennial budget.

The audit will be conducted by the King County Auditor and focus on areas that are most likely to yield savings if performance or efficiency can be improved. Any savings identified would be directed towards offsetting higher fuel costs or providing additional service.

Bottled-water ban

On Monday, King County joined the growing list of jurisdictions limiting the purchase of single-serve bottled water, under legislation approved by the County Council. The action restricts purchases by all county agencies, departments and offices.

The legislation also directs the County Executive to adopt policies and procedures for implementing the bottled water restriction in King County environmental purchasing policy. The legislation permits the use of single-serve bottled water in cases where there are no reasonable alternatives to access to safe drinking water, when there are hydration requirements for employees working outside of county facilities, or to comply with state or federal workplace rules or other contractual reasons.

The legislation does not restrict the purchase of large bottled water for use in water coolers.