UPDATE:
Two members of the Geary County Commission have responded to Junction City Commission action Tuesday night to demand payment of approximately $802,000 for back EMS Services.
Commissioner Alex Tyson disagreed with the City's handling of the EMS issue in their meeting Tuesday night. He noted that he thought the city commission was not getting the entire rundown on the EMS conversation. Tyson said that there have been talks between the city and county since Nov. 8th and progress was being made.
He noted that the reason that the bill was not paid this year was that the County had asked the City for EMS financials prior to the annual budget process but the City refused to give the information. "Almost unethical not to turn over financials that we need to complete the budget process."
Commissioner Trish Giordano noted that the County will "do everything in our power to make sure we have quality EMS for our county residents." Giordano added that she feels that the City has been overcharging for EMS services for years.
County commissioners plan to bring the EMS issue up at a joint city, county, school board meeting on Monday. That meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the C.L. Hoover Opera House.
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Junction City Commissioners have approved a motion directing that a demand letter be drafted by the city attorney requesting that Geary County pay an 802,566. 26 bill for EMS Services by Dec. 5, or the City would have to consider suspending EMS services outside the city limits. In the motion, Commissioner Jeff Underhill noted that the County had not paid their bill since April of this year. The motion followed visits with city staff.
City Manager Allen Dinkel provided one add-on during discussion when he said one payment has been made but was held on to by the City. "Because they had a credit that we agreed to on a last year's bill and they didn't pay last year's bill but they took the credit instead." Dinkel said the check was not cancelled because of the belief that if they cancelled it that would not give the appearance that the City accepted it.