INDIANAPOLIS -- Gloria Norris isn't happy.

A recent assessment put her Lawrence Township home's value at $26,000 more than the previous assessment, which was five years earlier. Because properties are taxed on their assessed value, Norris faces a steep increase in her property tax bill.

She wants to know why.

"I'm like, 'My house has not changed, the neighborhood has not changed, nothing else has changed, and the housing market has decreased.' So how did my value go up?" Norris asked. "There's no house in the neighborhood that's selling for what they assessed my house for."

Norris had a friend in the real estate business do a comparative market analysis, and it showed her home's value was placed far above anything else in her neighborhood, even though it is similar in size and quality to most of the other houses.

So, Norris is appealing the assessment to the Lawrence Township assessor. And with the latest round of assessments expected to help increase homeowners' property tax bills by an average of 24 percent this year, assessors across the state could see a lot of similar moves.

Jeff Hill, Lawrence Township's assessor, said the initial appeal step is simple, informal, and something that a homeowner can do alone.

"The first step is coming in to the township office and having a preliminary conference with the township assessor or one of the employees," Hill said. "It's just a basic conversation of the taxpayer stating why they think their taxes are too high."

An assessor could agree with the homeowner and lower the valuation. If the assessor doesn't, then the homeowner can file a form and appeal the decision to the county.

The step involving the form generally requires an attorney or a tax advocate. The appeal conceivably could go to the state Supreme Court, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Norris said she learned about her assessment when she filed for a senior citizen exemption. Most people in Marion County won't learn of their homes' valuations until they receive this spring's property tax bill, Cox reported.