For at least the second year in a row, fire service leaders from across New York visited Albany Monday to call on lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow municipal volunteer fire departments to be reimbursed for EMS calls.

"The agencies are losing money,” Saratoga County Fire Coordinator Ed Tremblay said. “Without being able to get reimbursed for it, the district is covering it through taxes.”

Currently, only private and full-time departments are allowed to recoup the costs associated with ambulance calls through Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies. Two bills before the Senate and Assembly would change that.

“To me, if one person or one agency is providing the service and can bill, they should all be able to bill,” Tremblay said.

"The one thing I'll ask people to think about is why New York State is the only state in the nation that doesn’t allow this to happen?" said Joe DeStefano, who represents part of Nassau County in the Assembly.

Tompkins County Fire Coordinator Lee Shurtleff says a recent study found that the state's roughly 460 municipal volunteer departments handle about 45 percent of its ambulance calls. In his local department, more than half the budget is devoted to EMS. Instead of being reimbursed by insurance, the bill is passed along to taxpayers.

"Collectively, they run over 300,000 ambulance calls each year,” Shurtleff said. “At an average recoupment of $350, that is over $100 million that is not available to these departments."

If the two bills are finally signed into law, the industry's leaders believe the money could be spent on providing better service and keeping New Yorkers safe.

"If they had the ability to bill, they could be paying for higher trained personnel," Tremblay said.

"At least they've got a little something that could be put toward sustaining the service," Shurtleff said.