INDIANAPOLIS -- Fear and anger are prevalent in Marion County over skyrocketing property taxes that are causing a flood of calls from homeowners.

Calls are pouring into government offices from property owners who are unhappy about their new property tax bills and unsure how they are going to afford them.

Bills started going into the mail on Friday morning, but some property owners who called in to get the bad news early got even worse news than they had anticipated, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Lawrence Township, which is seeing some of the county's largest increases, has many residents concerned if they will be able to keep their homes.

Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman said Friday that his office fielded 9,000 calls between midnight Wednesday and midnight Thursday.

Lawrence Township assessor Jeff Hill is also hearing from angry homeowners. Hill is one of the assessors who asked for increased security for the office.

Hill estimated that residential bills went up an average of 35 percent in Lawrence Township. Some homeowners came to the office to find out why.

"It's like when anything else goes up in cost. I mean, the reaction's negative, of course, and we certainly understand," Hill said. "With gas and water and sewer and everything else that goes up each year, and our incomes aren't keeping pace with that."

Several people, such as Chris Hedlund, are appealing their home's assessments, which they believe are too high. Hedlund's bill went up 29 percent.

"Well, I expected it to happen, but I didn't expect it to be that high, to be honest with you," Hedlund said. "They've been talking about it, but nobody told you how much it was going to be."

Anxiety among homeowners is so high and the volume of calls is so great that Rodman said he is considering keeping the treasurer's phone lines open during the evenings next week.

Residents can call either the treasurer or their local assessors office with questions.

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson on Thursday called on Gov. Mitch Daniels to call a special session of the Legislature, calling the property tax situation a crisis.

"What we need is people to talk about solutions, not to point fingers at other people," Peterson said.

Marion County Republican Chairman Tom John called Peterson's performance "sad." He said the mayor should focus more on keeping down spending.

"He puts out a $90 million tax increase, actually a $118 million tax increase two days ago," John said. "Yesterday, now he blames the governor and the Legislature for his failings as a mayor to manage and to cut taxes."

Bills should hit mailboxes this weekend and on Monday.