Hays ? Trego County’s sheriff has his patrol car back after a county commissioner and the county attorney paid $561 to get it out of impoundment at a local towing company.

Sheriff Ryan Bloom’s patrol cruiser was impounded in late October after commissioners refused to pay a $111 towing bill Bloom incurred a month earlier while returning to Hays from Dodge City. He had driven the patrol car to testify in a case that stemmed from his tenure on the Dodge City Police Department.

At $30 a day for storage, the bill ballooned to $1,026, which the county refused to pay. Commissioners questioned Bloom’s use of the patrol car for personal business and decided it wasn’t the county’s responsibility to pay the bill.

On Monday, the County Commission gave B&C towing operator Steve Schoenthaler a check for $111, which he ripped up and threw onto the commission table. He said he would accept only full payment but also agreed to donate the money to the school library.

After discussing the bill with County Atty. Dave Harding and commissioner Toby Lynd, Schoenthaler agreed Thursday to write off half the bill if the two paid the other half.

While Bloom has his car back, that doesn’t clear the air between him and the commission. Bloom filed a lawsuit against the commissioners for the return of $20 to his salary, which was taken away to pay for food for Bloom’s police dog.

Bloom had used $20 in county money to buy food for the dog, which at least one commissioner doesn’t think he should have. Bloom brought the dog with him from Dodge City.

Harding said he and Lynd paid the bill out of their own pockets because “We don’t like making headlines.”

The attorney said the dispute between the county and Bloom, who was appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on June 2 to replace Sheriff Curt Bender, was an embarrassment. Bender quit while the subject of a Kansas Bureau of Investigation probe.