Complaints about how gasoline and diesel prices can vary across the region and state are even making their way into public meetings.

During a special meeting Wednesday night of the Seymour Community Schools Board of Trustees, business manager Nancy Lumley said there may be a need to tap the district’s Rainy Day Fund to help finance the costs of operating school buses.

“Could we drive a bunch of 55-gallon drums to Greenwood and fill them up and bring them back?” Trustee Carl Vondielingen asked. “It’s a lot cheaper up there than here.”

He said the cost in Greenwood on Wednesday was less than $2.50 a gallon.

Seymour residents aren’t the only ones complaining.

In a news release Wednesday, state Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, said he’s asked Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter to investigate gas prices in Lawrence County, which he said currently average $2.93 per gallon. Gas has been in the $2.74 range in the Seymour area this week.

“Gas prices in neighboring communities are averaging 50 cents less per gallon than in the Bedford area,” Steele said. “I’m not sure blaming distribution costs is fair because stations in the nearby communities of Martinsville and Orleans are selling gas many cents cheaper on the gallon than in Bedford. The citizens of Bedford want to know how and why this is happening. It makes no sense that communities north and south of us, on the same highway, can sell gasoline for less.”

State Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, was among lawmakers who met earlier this month at the Statehouse to discuss pricing of gasoline. She said a couple of days later that those who offered testimony to lawmakers assured them that there was no collusion or gouging going on in Indiana.

No matter the answers from those testifying before state lawmakers or from the attorney general, they probably won’t satisfy anyone who’s convinced they’re overpaying for gas or diesel fuel.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.