Welcome to life during a gas crisis -- a gas-price crises, that is.

Fuel costs this week jumped to a national record of $3.65 a gallon, more than a dollar higher than it was just seven months ago. The benchmark represents a two-year period in which rising costs have forced drivers to rethink their modes of transportation.

High gas bills are also hitting area municipalities, forcing officials to begin sweeping cost-cutting measures.

"This is the new dynamic that we are all forced to deal with," said Randy Harrington, Charlotte's assistant budget director. "Just like it is affecting people at home, it is affecting us here."

Charlotte leaders are looking to increase the city's $22 million gas budget by $750,000 in 2009. The money would come from growth in the budget and would not syphon funds from other programs.

It is a significant increase, one that can't be avoided, officials said, but can be mitigated. Department heads have been told to cut back. This ranges from "no idling" policies with city cars to having some utility workers shift to four-day weeks with 10-hour shifts. Officials in surrounding cities are doing much the same.

"We are trying everything we can to make the dollars stretch," said Barry Webb, Belmont city manager. "A member of our planning staff has been riding his bike to work, and to tell you the truth, I'm thinking of getting my tires pumped up and doing that too."

Belmont made news recently when officials ordered city police to abandon their patrol cars and walk at least 15 minutes out of every hour. The Police Department had budgeted $70,000 for fuel and was down to about $8,000 to last until July 1.

Officials in Matthews are trying similar methods. The city expects to spend $20,000 more on fuel this year, a 9 percent increase. The city also started a "no idle" policy for most police vehicles. And like Belmont, officers are walking for significant portions of their shift.

Matthews City Manager Hazen Blodgett said the measures might help, but more is needed. Escalating fuel prices have also driven up the cost of repaving roads. Materials used in the process include petroleum byproducts.

The cost has increased by more than 90 percent over the past 10 years. At the same time, Matthews has added more than 20 miles of roads.

To offset this, the city is proposing a $25 increase to its existing $5 tag fee. Blodgett said the $500,000 raised by the new fee would go toward paving and maintaining city roads.

In Concord, officials are three miles behind schedule on road upkeep, and Concord City Manager Brian Hiatt doesn't see that changing anytime soon.

"Our fuel costs are just growing out of control, and it looks like we are just going to have to bite the bullet on this," Hiatt said. "Our departments have been told to absorb the costs, by cutting what they can."

Concord's fuel budget is expected to jump to $1.3 million next year, $400,000 more than it was last year and nearly twice what it was in 2005.

Though high, that fuel bill pales when compared with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The system has watched its fuel costs increase from $4.8 million in the 2004-2005 school year to more than $7 million already this year.

Meanwhile, economists predict that oil prices could climb to $200 a barrel over the next two years, costing drivers more than $5 per gallon and forcing govermental bodies to consider more cuts.