A Westchester County Court judge has ordered Comptroller Deborah Reynolds to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fuel bills by noon Friday, according to a post on Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard’s Facebook page.

The city went to court Wednesday saying the failure of the comptroller to pay those bills had forced the city to ground nearly all their emergency vehicles.

City officials say the comptroller's refusal to pay is crippling city services and is putting public safety at risk. "We want to make sure that our police cars, we want to make sure that our fire engines and our DPW fleet are able to do their job," says Patterson-Howard.

The comptroller said the city had failed to submit invoices in a timely fashion.

MORE: Mount Vernon mayor takes legal action against comptroller for unpaid bills