Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost confirmed what we have long believed: That Lawrence County taxpayers were subsidizing ambulance service in the other two counties that the now-defunct Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Services covered.

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone and reaffirms our belief that forming a stand-alone ambulance service solely for Lawrence County is a smart move that should provide better service and better value for Lawrence County taxpayers.

Now it is up to the Lawrence County Commissioners to find a way to get Athens and Jackson counties to honor their debts and meet their responsibilities by paying SEOEMS so it can then in turn hand over the more than $300,000 owed to our county.

Just because SEOEMS has essentially been disbanded doesn’t absolve these counties from doing the right thing and pulling their share, which the audit shows they essentially have not done for three years.

We urge the commissioners to take every action possible to recoup these dollars.

We applaud the state auditor for his efforts to bring this to the public’s attention.

SEOEMS was on financial life support for a number of years, but that doesn’t mean Lawrence County taxpayers should have to pick up a disproportionate part of the bill.