Gas Money. (CBS)
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NEW LENOX (CBS) — Don’t buy gasoline in my town.
That’s the message from the mayor of New Lenox, who says stations there are simply charging too much.
CBS 2′s Derrick Blakley reports, a Speedway station in New Lenox is selling a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline for $4.14. At a nearby Speedway in Frankfort, it’s five cents cheaper.
New Lenox residents say they’re tired of paying higher prices for hometown gas.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports
“They tend to be higher,” said motorist Michael Tovar. “I come from Joliet a lot, and I’ve found it to be 10 to 15 cents cheaper out there.”
Dan Moy agrees: “The price is terrible. I live here, like everything else you buy what’s available.”
New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann is fed up, too. So fed up, he wants New Lenox residents to boycott hometown gas stations.
It’s not very often that you hear a mayor encourage his residents to gas up out of town.
“The only way we can send a clear message to the companies is for our residents to shop elsewhere,” he said
It’s not just one brand that’s high. Gasoline at BP in New Lenox is $4.19. In Frankfort it’s $4.07.
Drivers say it’s worth it to fill up elsewhere.
“I actually go to the Mokena and Orland area sometimes,” said New Lenox resident Katie O’Connor.
Sue Lindsay would prefer to support in-town businesses, but at these prices, “not when you’re filling a 25-gallon tank.”
Baldermann says the gas companies have told him they set their prices according to the competition in town, not out-of-town.
So, he says, as long as residents keep paying the high prices, stations will charge them.
