SHERBURNE – For several months the Village of Sherburne has been discussing a system of revenue recovery for its ambulance service, and while no decision has been made on which way to move forward, it appears that future ambulance service is most likely going to come with a bill.

In 2002, the fire department created a task force to look at the possibility of charging for service. At the time, membership was dwindling, and the emergency squad, which was a separate part of the department, was suffering. According to Fire Chief Pat Lawrence, the department later decided to combine the fire and emergency squads, a move he said has worked well. “It seemed to make us stronger,” the fire chief said.

Now, seven years later, the department is again having some difficulties. With the increased number of calls the department has responded to since Superior Ambulance pulled its service from the area in 2007, the members of the EMS squad are over worked and starting to get burned out.

“They’re getting tired,” Lawrence said. “These people have families and jobs. They need help.”

Lawrence and EMS Chief Jay Symonds explained they would like to begin a system of revenue recovery, and down the road, they are hoping the system will generate enough revenue to hire help during the daytime hours when the department is most needed.

There are several possible options for the department to switch to a revenue recovery system. “A volunteer department cannot charge for services. There has to be some type of separation,” Lawrence said. The fire department is interested in pursuing a municipal-based system. “It would create a split on paper, but the day-to-day operations would be unchanged,” Lawrence said.

Symonds explained that the department has been exploring these options for more than six years. “This isn’t something we’re running into. We’ve identified the problems with each system, and we think the municipal-based is the best choice.”

Village Mayor William Acee agrees that a revenue recovery system would help the department, but said he believes creating an EMS department that was a separate not-for-profit agency would be the best way to proceed.

In the surrounding areas, both options have been put into place. Norwich and New Berlin have municipal-based services. SOMAC in Hamilton was created as a not-for-profit.

Symonds said he prefers the municipal system because it forces the village and the EMS squads to work together. “There are checks and balances to the municipal system. You have to work with each other. It creates a safety net,” Symonds said. The EMS chief said with the not-for-profit system, there is nothing in place to prevent the village or the EMS squad from stopping service at any time.