The mayor of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, recently posted on Facebook that the city will no longer provide its ambulance service to surrounding cities, unless they pay up.

Cottage Grove provides EMS to the cities of St. Paul Park, Newport and the Township of Grey Cloud Island.

"I do NOT want to end the coverage of our amazing EMS services to the residents of St Paul Park, Newport, or Grey Cloud Island, but I cannot honestly justify the Cottage Grove Taxpayer continuing to pick up the costs of these losses coming out of our neighboring communities," Mayor Myron Bailey wrote on Wednesday.

The price of EMS is "extremely high," according to Bailey, who wrote that people who live in Cottage Grove are unfairly picking up the costs.

If neighboring cities don't pitch in, Cottage Grove would reassign neighboring cities to a private ambulance service, the mayor said, bringing typical response times of six to eight minutes to likely more than 30 minutes on busy days.

Neighboring mayors were critical of the post.

"Taking to Facebook with something as critical as EMS service and almost causing an uncertainty in our citizens, for any community anywhere is just not how I handle things," said St. Paul Park Mayor Keith Franke.

St. Paul Park has tried to negotiate, but Cottage Grove has not been receptive, Franke said.

Newport Mayor Laurie Elliot is also taking issue with the social media post, calling it "fear-based messaging" with a "confrontational tone."

"We're hoping to be able to work with our neighbors and the city of Cottage Grove to come up with a plan. I mean, if it's not working for them, then allow us to work for ourselves," Franke said.

A decision on ambulance services in those cities is expected by next month, according to Bailey.