A Michigan police force has switched to handling non-urgent calls by phone because it cannot cope with the soaring price of gas.

Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main alerted locals in a since-deleted Facebook post that his force “is feeling the pain at the pump as well.”

“We have exhausted what funds were budgeted for fuel with several months to go before the budget reset,” the sheriff wrote Tuesday as the state-wide average rose above $5.20 a gallon.

“I have instructed the deputies to attempt to manage whatever calls are acceptable over the phone,” he said, detailing how they would be calls that were non-life-threatening or not currently in progress.

“I want to assure the community that safety is our primary goal,” he insisted, stressing that his officers would still be sent out to “any call that is in progress with active suspects.”

Isabella County is in central Michigan and includes the city of Mount Pleasant.

County Administrator Nicole Frost confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that 96% of the Sheriff’s Office’s fuel budget has been spent — with 3.5 months of the fiscal year to go.

Frost admitted that the sheriff’s Facebook post — which had been removed by Friday — had sparked alarm among some county commissioners.

“There’s been a lot of communication on this issue,” she told the local paper.

“I’ve already been approached by commissioners who are concerned to the level of: ‘Do we need to meet about a budget before the next regularly scheduled meeting?'” she said.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deleted post.