CROWN POINT | Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub said he is considering a new way to get control of the county's burgeoning fuel costs.

Scheub, D-Schererville, said the county could get out of the business of dispensing gasoline to its fleet of county vehicles and instead permit a select number of county employees to fuel up at private service stations.

"It would have a tracking system that would intercept anyone filling up after hours," Scheub said Wednesday.

He said officials of Speedway SuperAmerican LLC, a Kentwood, Mich., firm, proposes the county use its SuperFleet service, a network of 66 service stations in Lake County.

Commissioners, constantly battling with rising energy costs and public outrage regarding officials pumping county gasoline for personal use, have forced dozens to give up their take-home car privileges. Commissioners and the Lake County Council also banned all county government officials and employees from pumping public gas into private vehicles.

Nevertheless, hundreds of county employees retained access to county pumps without direct oversight by commissioners. The sheriff maintains pumps for almost all employees, except the highway department.

County government's fleet of hundreds of police squads, highway trucks and civilian passenger vehicles has burned through nearly $4 million in diesel and gasoline in six previous years. Fuel costs in 2008 were expected to be another $1.2 million -- a 27 percent increase -- even before the latest surge in energy costs.

Scheub said his proposed system would have the advantage of voiding gas cards that give employees unrestricted access and would allow commissioners to track and restrict fuel use without the expense of building a county monitoring system.

Linda Casey, a spokeswoman for Speedway SuperAmerica, said Wednesday a large number of public and private corporations use the SuperFleet program, which provides fuel at a discounted price.

Scheub said he plans to meet soon with the sheriff to discuss its implementation.