LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Emergency medical technicians will go without their small stipend to help keep the town's ambulance service alive.

 

The move cuts out some $22,000 from the enterprise budget and is being coupled with increased fees. The hope is to keep the squad afloat for the next year while officials look to find ways to keep it running. The service has struggled in the last year because of some $30,000 in unpaid bills owed to the ambulance and its inability to respond to calls.

 

"Something drastic has to happen," Fire Chief Charlie Durfee said on Monday.

 

The town's EMTs are passing up the $20 per call to help the funding situation. Durfee hopes to start a conversation about regionalizing the service and the Fire Department with New Ashford and Hancock — a move similar to what Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge is doing. 

 

"That's the way the world is going. If you can do it with three towns and each town chips in a little, you can pay for full-time EMTS," Durfee said.

 

As just a stipend position, he said it is difficult to find people willing to become certified.

 

"People aren't beating down the doors to become EMTs because of the amount of certification hours," Durfee said.

 

Town Manager Paul Sieloff also suggested looking into having employees who are EMTs in the Highway Department or in Town Hall handle calls during the day. That person would leave work to respond to the call — calls which many on the current staff can't be excused from work to take.

 

"When you are a small town, sometimes you have to think outside of the box," Sieloff said.

 

Another option would be for the town to take on the ambulance and provide it as a service. That would mean hiring an EMT full time to man the station. At one point in the past, the town had tried that but the call volume didn't justify the expense. 

 

The town manager also added that he'll be working with ambulance staff on raising the fees for service. He said the town has been "undercharging" and the rates hadn't gone up in a number of years. That is hoped to boost revenue coming into the enterprise account.