Some first responders in Midtown Manhattan say the congestion pricing toll is proving to be too much, and it may force them to change the way they make a living.

Frank Lopez drives to his job as an EMT for the FDNY. He says the trip from his Long Island home into Manhattan is quicker now because of congestion pricing. But the cost is something he can’t afford.

“I love saving lives, but the congestion toll pricing, tax what I call it, is hurting me financially. I don’t wanna leave Manhattan,” Lopez said.

The Long Island Railroad and the subway are just not an option, he says, when he gets off work at 3 a.m. Lopez makes less than $42,000 a year.

With his hourly pay of $18.50, he says it takes him more than an hour of working now to pay all the tolls each day just to get to work at Station 8 in Kips Bay in Manhattan.

“The only way to make money is to work overtime,” he said. “It is a burden on me financially. Nobody should be paying this. And you got everything that’s really up and expensive, gas prices, food prices, everything in general.”

But Lopez says this is a calling — after he watched paramedics try to save his mother from a heart attack. She passed, but he says he knew what he had to do.

FDNY paramedic Reevaaj Hoamcharran says it’s a job, but saving lives is rewarding.

“It’s really nice to know that you can come and help people,” Hoamcharran said.

He says he drives into Station 7 in Lower Manhattan from Glen Oaks in Queens because he’d have to take a bus to a subway to another bus or subway to get there.

With his hourly pay of $25.80, Hoamcharran says it takes nearly an hour of working now to pay all the tolls each day just to get to work. Congestion pricing, Hoamcharran says, is taking a financial toll on his family.

“We’re here to serve the city, but the city is not serving us,” he said. “This congestion pricing situation already is putting a toll on our pocket, a toll that’s been there for a while now with that low pay rate that we’re at. We’re struggling to make ends meet already prior to the congestion pricing.”

He says he’s considering leaving the field altogether.

“I literally sat with my wife one day and asked her what other job do you think I could do, that could help me financially, because this is just not cutting it anymore for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lopez says he has to stay. This is what he was meant to do for his mother.

“Her dream was for me to become FDNY EMS, and I fulfilled her wish by joining the fire department almost two years ago,” he said.

He says he’s losing sleep because of the toll, and is considering getting a second job as an emergency medical tech at a hospital outside of the congestion zone to keep his mother’s dream alive.

A bill passed in the State Senate in January that would offer an exemption for certain FDNY employees, including EMTs, from having to pay the congestion pricing toll. It’s still in committee in the State Assembly.