City Of Ewing Overdue On Road Work Payments

Non-payment of money owed to Fleming County Fiscal Court was discussed during fiscal court’s meeting on Tuesday (March 11).

The city of Ewing currently owes Fleming County $6,000 for road work within the city by the Fleming County Road Department. Ewing Mayor Wally Thomas claimed no work has been done by the county since 2006, when city council decided to break a verbal agreement between the two.

Thomas said the reason behind the decision was money. An agreement had been in place between Fleming County and Ewing to do all road work for the city with the understanding that Ewing would turn over all state aid that it received. Thomas said that stopped about 2006.

During a November 2012 meeting, Fleming County Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy said the money owed to the county was about $31,000 and the fiscal court had never been notified of the agreement being broken. However, both officials checked and could find no written agreement, but knew there was at least a verbal agreement.

During a May 2013 meeting, Thomas said $12,000 would be paid toward the debt owed to Fleming County. The agreement would allow for the payments to be made in increments of $4,000 every six months until the debt was fully paid. However, in August 2013, no money had been paid by Ewing.

In September 2013, the fiscal court and Ewing reached an agreement that $6,000 would be paid in December and $6,000 in January.

The fiscal court members agreed to allow work to continue on the roads in Ewing, so long as the agreement was kept. Money was received in December, but the January payment has yet to be made, according to Foxworthy.

“We’ve ceased maintenance in the city. That’s about all we can do until we are paid the money we’re owed,” said Foxworthy.

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