New York government’s plate is full at the moment, to say the least. The No. 1 priority, of course, is to get a new state budget in place at the start of what could be at least a few years of economic uncertainty and challenge. It’s no easy task. The choices we make today will have an enormous impact on the state’s future.

So we need to proceed carefully with the 2008-09 state budget. At the same time, we have to keep an eye on the rest of New York’s to-do list. This list includes a range of outstanding issues, including this one: the ability of local volunteer fire companies and ambulance services to recruit and retain volunteers. It’s a challenge that’s obviously brewing in many communities, but one that’s at risk of bubbling out of control in some places.

The local volunteer fire department has long been a bedrock of community pride, service and protection. But we better recognize, the sooner the better, that it’s becoming more and more difficult for many companies to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of emergency services volunteers. That’s especially true in rural, upstate New York.

Organizations like the Firemen’s Association of New York and the state Association of Towns continue to do their part to increase public awareness of the need for volunteers. According to the Firemen’s Association, the number of volunteer firefighters statewide has declined from 140,000 in the early 1990s to approximately 110,000 today. Volunteer emergency medical technicians (EMTs) experienced a decline from more than 50,000 to 35,000 during the same period.

In late 2005, the Association of Towns called in a four-alarm fire on volunteer recruitment and retention. In what should have been an eye-opening report, "Volunteer Emergency Services: A System in Crisis," the Association’s executive director said, "We are at an important crossroads. So often in government we are not able to anticipate a crisis and head it off, but here we clearly have an opportunity to take actions that will save the taxpayers as much as 7 billion dollars per year." That’s right, the Association of Towns estimates that it would cost local taxpayers statewide more than $7 billion annually to replace volunteers with paid fire and ambulance services.

There are undeniably factors outside of government’s influence that contribute to these declining volunteer ranks, but are there actions that government can and should take to provide incentives that just might help reverse the decline? We have to at least consider that possibility. If you think the local share of Medicaid represents an unmanageable burden for many counties, consider what’s going to happen if the corps of emergency services volunteers dries up. It’s the next property tax crisis in waiting. It would cost billions of dollars for localities to pay for the critical services currently provided by volunteer firefighters and EMTs. That’s reason enough, in my opinion, for government to act.

The 2006-07 state budget authorized a $200 income tax credit for volunteers. Four years ago New York established a college tuition incentive program. The state has also authorized some counties to provide as much as a 10% real property tax exemption on the primary residence of a volunteer firefighter or ambulance worker.

We just need to keep focusing on ways, large and small, that recognize and reward the critical role emergency services volunteers play in our communities. Recently, for example, the Senate approved legislation I co-sponsor to prohibit employers from firing an employee who’s a local emergency services volunteer and misses work while responding to an emergency. Volunteer firefighters and EMTs should never be put in the position of volunteering at the risk of losing their jobs.

As chairman of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, I also continue to sponsor legislation known as the "Emergency Services Volunteer Incentive Act." It advances some ideas and incentives that might help communities fend off this steady decline in their volunteer corps. Among other things, the legislation proposes to allow emergency services volunteers to participate in certain public employee health insurance plans.

So yes, New York government faces a full plate at the moment, but we have to do what we can to keep the issue of volunteer recruitment and retention in the mix of legislative attention. Volunteer ranks continue to decline. We need to get this unfortunate trend moving in the other direction.