BERRYVILLE -- While the cost of gasoline has dropped in recent weeks, the elderly, people on fixed incomes, homeowners and poultry farmers are looking at increased costs of propane, which has risen from 35 cents per gallon in 1999 to more than $2 today.

The Office of Human Concern in Rogers, whose low-income assistance program includes Carroll County, reports that money for propane has been spent twice as fast this year as in 2007, and the program, which was to have stayed open until Sept. 30, ran out of money on July 14.

OHC Operations Manager Karen Jennings reports minimum deliveries are dictated by propane companies, which can mean as much as $500 off the top." Add to that, she said, each company is different, and the price of propane changes each day.

As of Thursday, Amerigas, in Berryville, charged $2.079 per gallon on a 1,000-gallon tank fill up, and $2.199 on a 150-gallon tank, which includes a free pressure check before filling.

Jennings said that utility companies are already preparing customers for worse conditions this winter. "I don't know what the elderly and people on fixed incomes will do this winter, or those below 10 percent in their tank," she said. "No one should have to decide between staying warm and buying medicine, so we try to find others who can help."

Those who can help include agencies such as the Salvation Army and area churches who will assist with specific amounts. Jennings said there are a good number of resources in Carroll County who can help, especially when compared to neighboring Madison County.

Still, she said, "It's just sad. We're in one of the richest parts of the state, and, nothing against other organizations, people just forget about the elderly."

According to information from the Energy Information Administration, Midwestern states, which includes Arkansas, are better off in terms of prices than elsewhere in the United States, with an average cost per gallon last winter, including state taxes, of $2.16 per gallon, to $2.45 by this winter. That compares to the national average of $2.50 in March to $2.73 this winter.

According to poultry grower and Arkansas Representative Bryan King, the increasing price of propane is affecting everyone, "especially poultry farmers." For that reason, King is working on a proposal to eliminate sales tax on utilities used in agricultural operations.

He said he would also be in favor of eliminating the sales tax on utilities for individuals as well as farmers.

But King also foresees increased use of natural gas in the Fayetteville Shale resulting in reduced utility costs. "That's why the Republicans signed on to drill here and drill now," King said, "and oil prices are down 20 to 30 percent since it started."

Most poultry farmers in the area are situated near the natural gas lines which generally run through the southern areas of the county.

With increased use of the state's natural resources and market expansion, the result will benefit all Arkansans, with lower utility costs, and, perhaps, deeper pockets for state revenues to help those who are in more problematic need.

King said that the decline on gasoline prices following President Bush's decision to encourage open drilling was largely symbolic.

"The extreme environmentalists have had us in a strangle hold," King said, "and now we're faced with this crisis."