They agreed they need to do something to fix the problem before a new board takes office in December, but could not agree on what.

"I'm not going to make a mess for anybody else to clean up," said Commissioner John "Lennie" Thompson Jr. (R), who suggested they reduce firefighter salaries by up to 25 percent. The starting annual salary for a new firefighter is $65,000, including benefits.

Commissioner Blaine R. Young (R) agreed, and suggested eliminating up to 90 firefighter or rescue positions. "You've gotta start somewhere," Young said. "We've got a problem."

But Commissioners' President Jan H. Gardner (D) came down hard on both proposals.

"The reality is, we have to run a responsible government, and I've seen two motions today that are the most irresponsible, dysfunctional outcomes that I have ever seen," said Gardner, who helped defeat both suggestions.

Commissioners ultimately gave county staff an Aug. 1 deadline to draft possible solutions. This will give the board three months to take action before the Nov. 2 general election.

Because of a lack of volunteers, commissioners in 2001 were forced to begin hiring paid personnel, so they established a two-tiered taxing system — urban and suburban — to help pay their salaries and benefits.

The urban district includes Emmitsburg, Frederick, Green Valley, Jefferson, Libertytown, Myersville, Point of Rocks and Urbana. Residents in those areas pay a fire tax rate of 12.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The suburban tax district includes Brunswick, Lewistown, Middletown, Thurmont and Walkersville. Residents in those areas pay a fire tax rate of 8 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The urban fire tax pays for fire and rescue coverage 24 hours a day. Stations in the suburban tax district primarily have paid, daytime coverage Monday through Friday, enhanced by volunteers.

The tax appears on residents' annual property tax bills.

The county's budget staff presented commissioners with information on Tuesday showing that the urban fire tax district will have an $18 million deficit by the end of fiscal 2013, and the suburban fire tax district will have a $1.5 million shortfall.

To eliminate that deficit, commissioners would have to raise the urban fire tax rate by 4 cents per $100 of assessed property value and the suburban rate by 2 cents, though commissioners made no such commitment to do so.

Even with the two-tiered system in place, staffing and funding have remained an issue. In December, Thompson made a proposal to dismantle the two districts and instead assign each fire company a separate tax rate that would support the staffing each company needs.

Thompson proposed the idea again on Tuesday. Under his proposal, each of the county's 21 fire companies would have a tax rate based on their expenditures, such as salaries and benefits and the value of properties served by each company.

For example, the rate for Lewistown could be as high as 29.4 cents per $100 of assessed property value and with Thurmont as low as 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

So depending on its location, a house assessed at $300,000 would have a fire tax rate between $156 and $942, as opposed to the current range of $240 to $384, said Michael Gastley, the county's budget officer.

Thompson argued that the county needs to rein in what he calls out-of-control spending of taxpayer dollars for fire, ambulance and rescue services. "Where does it stop?" he said. "It only stops when you have a pure revolt. Going back to a single tax rate is the only way to get these costs under control."

But Gardner said Thompson's approach would create bookkeeping problems because of all the different tax rates. "I think it creates a huge amount of problems in service and accounting, and I just don't think it makes sense," she said.

Young suggested paying for fire and rescue services out of the county's general fund, which pays for most county services.

County Manager Ronald Hart said that is not ideal because it would be difficult to keep track of the money. "The costs are going to get lost," he said. "The costs are just going to get buried under that."

Thomas W. Owens, director of the county's Division of Fire and Rescue Services, suggested that commissioners look at how Baltimore County handles fire service.

Regional fire stations, staffed entirely with paid personnel, are strategically located around the county. They are there to help the smaller, all-volunteer stations respond to emergency calls. "I would want the county to take a look at that," Owens said.