CROWN POINT | The Lake County Public Works Department is getting kicked around as budget cutting season heats up.

Several county officials seek control over the department's $300,000 budget, its eight employees and dozens of vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment as the Lake County Council weighs proposals to dissolve or combine it with other government units to cut costs.

Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville, said Wednesday he wants the department to remain under the control of the Lake County Board of Commissioners.

"I don't want it to go to the surveyor's office," Scheub said. "That would involve a lot of red tape that would delay its response to emergencies. When I call (public works director) Bill Henderson , he goes right out there now. I don't want to lose that kind of control."

Surveyor George Van Til, who would like to take over the county's public works, said Scheub's remarks are "unfortunate and political."

"The red tape there currently is beyond belief," Van Til argued. "There are multiple layers and decisions that have to be made to get them moving. I could run that department on half the money, half the office space and half the equipment."

The Good Government Initiative, a privately funded effort by the county's largest corporate taxpayers to impose efficiency on local government, recommended eliminating the department in a 2007 study that criticized the department for having an ill-defined mission and too much machinery.

A compromise may be in the works.

Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary, said he would like public works employees to report to the County Drainage Board, which is what the Board of Commissioners is called when they deal exclusively with drainage issues.