The Peachtree City Council is slated to meet Wednesday night with the Fayette County Board of Commissioners to discuss the issue of city residents paying for county EMS services.

The meeting time and location was not available by press time Thursday afternoon.

City officials contend that city residents pay about $500,000 a year in property taxes for EMS services they don’t receive from the county because the city provides such EMS services within the city limits.

The city has asked county officials to create a special tax district in the county so Peachtree City residents won’t have to continue to meet that tax burden; the county denied the city’s most recent request to do that in January.

Peachtree City’s EMS is funded totally by revenues it receives for services. The county, however, used $1.48 million to pay for EMS from the county’s general fund, which is partially funded through property taxes.

Previously, county officials have contended they would rather consolidate Peachtree City’s EMS department with the county’s EMS department. That would leave Peachtree City covered by two ambulances instead of the current fleet of four, and it also would cost the city $602,000 to upgrade equipment, city officials have said.

Another solution touted by county officials is the adoption of automatic aid agreements, which would basically double the area Peachtree City EMS units had to cover, according to City Manager Bernie McMullen.

With automatic aid agreements, the closest fire station must respond to a call whether the incident location is in the county or the city, McMullen explained.

Such a plan does not address the issue of who pays for what service, McMullen also has said.

The issue could spill over into the larger matter of the Service Delivery Strategy, a document that outlines which local government agencies provide which services to citizens. The city could use that process to challenge the EMS property tax issue with the county.

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