Rod Danielson is breathing a little easier thanks to the drop in fuel prices.

Last spring, the Coos Bay School District’s business manager recommended a gas budget of $330,000 based on a pump price of $3.45 a gallon. He wasn’t too pleased when fuel prices zoomed past $4.

“I thought I was going to be way in the hole,” he said.

Instead, fuel is one of the few bright spots for local school districts facing tight budgets due to state revenue shortfalls.

The district buys gasoline and diesel directly from distributors and, as a government agency, don’t have to pay a federal excise or state gas tax. So the district’s last gas purchase came at a price of $1.40 a gallon and $1.50 for diesel, Danielson said.

Rapidly falling gas prices pose a new problem for the district. When the cost of fuel was skyrocketing, the district topped off the underground tanks at the bus barn whenever it filled up to avoid having to buy more at a higher price. Now it only fills the tanks a quarter to a third full in hopes it will pay less the next time.

“We’ve got our tanks as empty as we can to get by,” Danielson said. “If we see a place when it bottoms out, we’ll fill them up.”

Since the district is buying less gas with each purchase, Danielson isn’t sure how much the district has saved. But it looks promising.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate,” he said.