It comes after the Wagga Rescue Squad was given a desperately-needed vehicle to help the organisation better respond to crashes.

The rescue squad costs about $12,000 year to run, but it only receives $3600 in government grants from funding that is also allocated to various emergency services. 

It means the rescue squad has to foot the bill for the remaining $8500, which is usually made through community fundraising – selling raffle tickets, hosting trivia nights or running sausage sizzles at Bunnings.

The best thing would be for the state government to allocate additional funding directly to the NSW VRA, Martin Gregory from Wagga Rescue Squad said.

“The VRA can then filter it down to all the squads that are in dire need of funding,” he said.

“We’re after more permanent funding that just pays the monthly or yearly bills.”

The biggest benefit of permanent funding to the VRA would mean team members can redirect the time they would spend fundraising, into more productive tasks.

“Instead of having to fund raise money, we can spend extra time training so that we’re better qualified,” Mr Gregory said.

“It means that we would be more alert to call outs and have a higher skill set when making responses.”

The Wagga Rescue Squad is one of the original founding members of the NSW VRA. It formed in 1950 and has since grown have to eight service centres across the south-west slopes.

The issue of funding is one that can be raised on a state level, according to Wagga mayor Greg Conkey, because of the “services they provide to the whole region”.

“The state government does fund other organisations such as the SES and the ambulance service and this is a complementary service,” he said.

“The (VRA) is called upon regularly and a number of businesses in town support their employees being a member.

“They’ve served the community well over the past 67 odd years.”

But the allocation of state funding directly to the VRA shouldn’t even be thought about twice, according to Wagga councillor Paul Funnell.

The lack of state government funding is “appalling,” Cr Funnell said, as he noted how many lives the VRA has saved.

“These volunteers put themselves at risk every day in situations the rest of us take for granted,” he said.

“There are the SES and other departments that are already overloaded and if you take the VRA out of the system, what’s going to happen?

“We see successive governments squander funding left, right and centre with ridiculous programs but we’re talking about some basic funding for lifesaving equipment and to assist people who are volunteering to help the community.”

In a statement to The Daily Advertiser, Wagga MP Daryl Maguire said state government supports the VRA with a small amount of allocated funding grants.

“Organisations like the Wagga VRA are encouraged to apply for the NSW Government’s Infrastructure Grants program; round one officially opens on August 1,” he said. 

“They can apply for anything between $10,000 to $200,000 as part of the emergency preparedness section of the Infrastructure Grant, which can cover costs like volunteer accommodation or to help improve community safety in times of emergency.”

Many local businesses have already expressed their support for the Wagga Rescue Squad, however a direct line of state funding is still needed to adequately support the state-wide VRA service.