HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania counties are pushing state lawmakers to increase the fees on phone customers that largely fund the state’s 911 centers, warning of financial chaos if they fail to act.

A bill to increase telephone surcharges for 911, currently $1 to $1.50 per month, was being introduced Friday and was expected to get the symbolic number of House Bill 911. It would take the fee to a flat $1.65, and make significant revisions to the 25-year-old 911 Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act.

“The law was written piecemeal fashion as new technologies arose,” said Doug Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. “We did a big amendment on wireless, and we did a big amendment for voice and we did a fairly big amendment for prepaid wireless. And so the law right now collects the fees three different ways, puts them in three different funds.”

Hill said a more unified law would be simpler to administer and make it easier to adapt to technology.

The state would collect and distribute the fees according to a formula that would take into account population, call volume and other factors. The bill would set standards across county lines and encourage cooperation, among other things.

Ten years ago, the fees amounted to $173 million of the $192 million in allowable costs the counties were spending to run the centers, the rest paid for with property taxes. By last year, the fees were bringing in $188 million but the total cost had risen to $292 million.

A large component of those fees, from wireless customers, will expire at the end of June if the General Assembly does not act.

The popularity of cellular phones, while bringing in monthly fees, has also been expensive, requiring counties to purchase costly “enhanced 911” equipment to locate the source of cellphone calls for help. It has also created an influx of calls from motorists reporting emergency situations.