HIGHLAND | Former Highland School Board member Rick Volbrecht is spearheading a petition drive seeking a referendum on the Town Council's decision to opt out of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Filed with the town Thursday, the petition drive ends this coming Friday, 60 days after the council voted to remove the town's water utility from IURC jurisdiction.

Through Monday, Volbrecht said he has collected 236 signatures, double the 118 he calculates are needed to place the issue on the ballot in November. He will continue to turn in signed petitions to Highland Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin through Friday, he said.

In voting in May to leave IURC oversight, town officials indicated the decision was a cost-cutting measure. Making their case before the IURC in 1990 cost the town $50,000 in unnecessary services from engineers, accountants and lawyers, they argued. Costs can be determined locally with officials having public hearings for input by consumers, they said.

Volbrecht, meanwhile, said he doesn't believe taking the case to Indianapolis costs $50,000, but even at that rate, the cost for each of Highland's 10,000 water rate payers is only $5 per year, or 42 cents per month.

With a referendum on the ballot, voters will face two practical choices, according to Volbrecht.

"You could appear as one person with no engineering or analyst qualifications before a Town Council hearing on a rate increase and feebly argue that you don't think the town's case to justify a water rate increase is sufficient," Volbrecht said. "Or (you could) require the town of Highland to justify a water rate increase before the IURC, which employes engineers and analysts with all the needed qualifications."

Griffin confirmed receiving Volbrecht's petitions, but could not immediately confirm the signature count.

The town next will have to verify the number of signatures meets the statutory requirements and that the signers are registered voters before the referendum can be scheduled, he said.

"We think the 118 is correct because it was given to us by the Election Board," he said.

The cost of IURC oversight is a valid argument, but ultimately a policy question as well, Griffin said.

Simple rate studies that the town should be conducting anyway can run from $8,000 to $15,000 at the local level, Griffin said. Costs to present a case before the IURC, which is a board appointed by the governor, can run $30,000 or higher if accompanied by a bond issue, he said.

Griffin said the policy question becomes, "Is it worth it to pay a little more for the (extra) oversight by the IURC or a little less for the oversight of a locally elected body?"