Summit County Council could weigh in soon in the "fracking" controversy.

Fracking is the controversial process of using high pressure liquid to extract oil and natural gas from underground shale...and oil and gas companies hoping to cash in are going after land in much of Eastern Ohio, including parts of Summit County.

A resolution making its way through Summit County Council would urge the state of Ohio to enact "reasonable regulations" overseeing the fracking process.

Summit County Council councilmember at large Sandra Kurt is one of those sponsoring the resolution.

"We want to do what we can to encourage the state legislature to make sure that when this type of drillling is done, that it's done safely, that it's done with concern for the residents of the state," Kurt tells AkronNewsNow.com, "both their safety, but also to make sure that we can take the best advantage of it that we can."

She says she hopes state lawmakers cede more local control over the process, because it affects people in a local area near the installations.

At very least, Kurt says shining light on the process will help educate local residents and help them get involved in the issue.

The resolution had its first reading on Monday night.

In other business, county sales tax income is continuing to grow.

County budget and finance director Brian Nelsen told council that sales tax revenue keeps going up in Summit County - up over 5 percent the first few months of this year, and seven percent for numbers that just came in for April.

Nelsen notes the trend of fast growing car sales in both the area and nationwide as fueling increases.

Other taxes, such as property tax conveyances, are trending up or down depending on the month.