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Conservative budgeting by Naperville is helping shelter the city from the same pinch motorists are feeling when they fill up their gas tanks.

In Illinois on Tuesday, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $4.43 — $1.49 higher than a year ago — while diesel costs are up $1.55 per gallon to $4.61, according to AAA data.

You’ll have to drive to Pulaski County in southern Illinois or Scott County in western Illinois to find gasoline less than $4 in the state.

AAA reported Tuesday that drivers were paying on average $4.52 a gallon in DuPage County and $4.50 in Will County. Customers can save a few cents filling up in Kane or Kendall counties, where AAA reports the average price per gallon was $4.45 and $4.44, respectively.

The higher price at the pump is blamed on the escalating per barrel cost of crude oil amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Naperville purchases 200,582 gallons of gasoline and 129,920 gallons of diesel annually, but is weathering the bump in fuel costs, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said.

The city budgeted $1.28 million for fuel in 2022, a 13% increase over the 2021 fuel budget of $1.13 million, she said.

One budget bright spot is that 8.5% of the fuel funds allotted for 2021 went unspent, which will offset some of the rising costs this year, LaCloche said.

In its most recent fuel purchase, the city paid $2.75 per gallon for unleaded and $3.46 for diesel.

Although the city doesn’t pay the added taxes customers pay at the pump, city fuel prices were 27.5% more than last year, LaCloche said.

Even if Naperville paid the higher cost on its average consumption throughout the year, it still would fall within its 2022 budget, she said.

The biggest fuel consumer in the city is the Naperville Police Department, which annually on average uses 111,909 gallons of unleaded and 143 gallons of diesel, data shows.

Next is the Public Works Department, which uses 54,415 gallons of diesel annually and 25,637 gallons of unleaded.

The water department consumes 29,788 gallons of unleaded and 21,894 of diesel, followed by the fire department, which uses 41,654 gallons of diesel and 8,795 gallons of unleaded, and the electric utility, which uses 17,244 gallons of unleaded and 11,712 gallons of diesel.

Other city departments use about 7,000 gallons unleaded and 100 gallons of diesel, according to city data.