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It's understandable that members of the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company are frustrated by a poor return on the taxes levied on residents in their response area, but this is an issue that calls attention to a percolating dilemma about countywide fire service in Frederick County — one that elected leaders will be forced to address in the near future.

Residents served by the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company fall within the suburban fire tax district, the less-costly of two such districts in the county. They are charged 8 cents per $100 of assessed value of their homes and that money pays for career firefighters to staff stations 12 hours a day, five days per week, with volunteers available the remainder of the time.

The problem is that while Walkersville-area residents are contributing $1.2 million in fire taxes — about 31 percent of the $3.9 million collected for Frederick County's suburban district — the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company only gets about $300,000 in return, according to Jim Graham, the company's treasurer.

Members of the company are now collecting signatures on a petition to the Frederick Board of County Commissioners to create a special tax district to reduce the amount that Walkersville-area residents pay.

That's well within their rights, but this problem is sure to pop up again unless the county commissioners begin to address the question of whether they need to institute a countywide all-paid or majority-paid fire and rescue service.

One of the major factors contributing to the discrepancy between the amount paid and the amount returned is that the county's fire and rescue companies have different demands.

For example, the Brunswick Fire Company, which is in the same tax district as Walkersville, received 595 calls for service in 2008, while Walkersville received 483. It should be noted, however, that other companies in the suburban district received fewer calls for service than Walkersville.

Demand is just one part of the equation. The second is the amount of available volunteers. A company with many engaged volunteers will likely need less from the county to sustain a minimum level of service, while companies with fewer volunteers rely more heavily on county funds.

According to a 2007 study of fire and rescue service in Frederick County by TriData, a Virginia-based public safety consultant, the county had about 1,600 active volunteers, though it could not identify long-term trends due a lack of information from the individual volunteer companies.

But the report states that based on interviews, fire and rescue leaders agree that the numbers of volunteers are trending downward, mimicking that which a nationwide trend. According to the report, the number of volunteers across the nation has dropped 10 percent since 1983, while the number of calls has increased 50 percent to 100 percent, or more.

The county has already budgeted $25,000 for a study to determine the feasibility of charging developers fees to pay for the capital costs of fire and rescue services.

This is a step toward a more unified fire and rescue system. Walkersville's grumbling about equitable payments reinforces the sense of loyalty that each company has to its own coverage area, rather than a dedication to a countywide program.

While that attachment, born of decades of exemplary volunteer service, has its merits, it makes the county's fire and rescue service evolution that much more painful.