Higher prices at the gas pump are hitting budgets across the board, but for Senior Resource Association – which operates the Indian River Transit System – the price of fuel created an emergency situation this spring.
In a three-month period – March, April and May – It cost the organization $203,000 to fuel up its diesel-powered GoLine buses and gasoline-powered Community Coach vehicles. That was 51 percent more than the $134,000 it spent on fuel during the same period last year.
Adding in increased maintenance and operating costs, Senior Resource was on its way to ending the current fiscal year with a $236,000 deficit, according to Senior Resource CEO Karen Deigl, who asked for emergency funding at the June 16 Indian River County Commission meeting.
The commission was sympathetic.
“This is a crisis that we are all facing – every division, every department, every constitutional officer,” said commission chair Deryl Loar.
Other commissioners agreed and voted unanimously to approve $263,000 in gap funding for the organization without further comment.
The emergency funding will give Senior Resource some breathing room until federal, state and local funding kicks in at the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1, Deigl said.
As Loar noted, Senior Resource is not the only local agency struggling with high fuel costs. Indian River Shores spent $18,665 on fuel for its vehicles in March, April and May this year, a 25-percent increase over last year’s fuel cost of $14,942 for the same three-month period.
The City of Vero Beach’s Public Works Department spent $130,333 on fuel in the March through May period this year, up from $81,776 during the same period last year.
Indian River County’s fleet division spent $464,153.05 on fuel March, April and May 2025 and $651,741.64 during the same three months this year, an increase of $187,588.59 or 40.4 percent.
Oil prices jumped abruptly shortly after the military conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel began at the end of February, leading to higher gasoline and diesel fuel costs. Retail gas prices increased from an average of just under $3 per gallon in January to a peak average price of $4.56 ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Despite the increase in fuel costs, Deigl said Senior Resource Association and Indian River Transit System still have a responsibility to provide “a sustainable public transportation system that is accessible, reliable and available to every person in our community.”
Except for 2020 during the height of the pandemic, ridership on the system has increased every year, according to Chris Stephenson, Senior Resource transportation director. GoLine and Community Coach provided 1.59 million passenger trips in 2024-2025, up 17 percent from the previous year. More than 1.6 million trips are projected for the coming year, Stephenson said.
“We are one of the very few transit systems in Florida that has increased passenger trips,” he said. “We also have had the lowest cost-per-trip in the state for the past 10 years. I’m very proud of that.”
Photos by Joshua Kodis
