Volunteer first responders in one Bergen County town will soon receive a special bonus from the borough as a “thank you” for their hard work.

The Fair Lawn Borough Council voted this week to give local volunteer responders a quarterly stipend of $500. Officials say that volunteerism is down a bit and they want to keep it up.

“It’s a little extra money, gas money pretty much, and any student loans I might have to pay off. It will definitely help,” says firefighter Matthew Belmonte.

Volunteer firefighters will be eligible for the stipend if they make at least 35 percent of calls and training. Members of the ambulance corps will get the same amount quarterly as long as they work 66 hours.

Mayor Kurt Peluso says the borough budgeted for the stipend and that that $200,000 has been reserved in the budget to pay for it.

"We think it's worthwhile because this is to help our emergency services and we want to make sure that … they're there when they're needed,” the mayor says.

The Fair Lawn fire chief says that he attributes the decline in volunteerism to be the cost of living in the area.

"If we can pay a bill, maybe a car insurance payment, that would help them and then it'll help us in the long run,” Chief Marc Palmieri says.

The stipends will go into effect January 2019.