INDIANAPOLIS -- Two proposals detailed Thursday morning aim to quell growing dissatisfaction with property tax bills in Marion County, including one plan that Indianapolis' mayor said would lower bills starting this fall.

Mayor Bart Peterson said his plan would reduce the county's property tax increases this year and next, and county Treasurer Mike Rodman said his would allow people to pay part of their increases in installments, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

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Peterson said his property tax relief plan involved increasing the county income tax and refinancing debt.

He said that if the City-County Council approves his previous proposal for a county income tax hike, he would put some of the new revenue toward property-tax reduction.

Peterson last month called for a raise of Marion County's income tax from 1 percent to 1.65 percent, which he said would yield an extra $90 million yearly, most of which would be put toward crime-fighting initiatives. On Thursday, Peterson said the first three months of revenue from the income tax increase would be used to lower property taxes.

Peterson also said he would refinance the county's debt to the state for child welfare and incarceration. He said the refinancing and income tax revenue would reduce property taxes $75 million over two years -- a temporary bandage to an issue that ultimately, he said, will require state intervention if homeowners are to see permanent relief.

"The proposal I'm offering here today is real, and it's now, but it is not a long-term solution," Peterson said. "It is a temporary solution that provides immediate property tax relief."

Under the plan, a $300,000 Meridian-Kessler neighborhood home whose owners saw a $3,800 property tax increase this year would have that increase reduced to $2,400. A Perry Township home valued at $200,000 would see its increase reduced from $1,700 to $1,000.

Parts of the plan from Peterson require City-County Council and state approval.

Earlier in the morning, Rodman detailed his plan to let people pay part of their increases in installments. Any homeowner whose bill increased by at least 10 percent would be eligible.

Homeowners already pay property taxes in two installments. Under Rodman's plan, for the payment due dates of July 27 and Nov. 13, homeowners would pay 110 percent of the installment amounts they paid last year.

They would pay what is left of their increases in eight monthly installments, from August through October and December through April.

Rodman said his plan would need City-County Council approval quickly.

"On July 23, I'm going to need the council to suspend its rules and act as a committee of the whole and vote on it that night," Rodman said. "I have talked with the leaders of both parties of the council. I haven't talked with all 29 members of the council."

Here is an example of how the plan would work: If a tax bill was $1,000 last year and increased to $1,700 this year, a property owner would pay $550 in July and November and $75 in each of the other months.

Rodman's plan also would need state approval, but Gov. Mitch Daniels indicated he would support a measure of this kind.

Rodman said his proposal wouldn't help people who pay taxes through their mortgages -- most of those homeowners already have similar arrangements through their escrow shortage funds, Cox reported.

City-County Council leaders said they believed Rodman's plan would pass easily, but they still are examining Peterson's proposal.

"We would have to have our people to look at it and see how it would affect the entire community," council President Monroe Gray said.

The plans are a reaction to homeowners' outrage over recently mailed property tax bills. The state had estimated that homeowners would see an average increase of 24 percent statewide this year, but residents in parts of some counties, including Marion County, have seen much higher increases.

Earlier this year, lawmakers approved rebates that were expected to lower the average increase to just less than 8 percent, but the rebates won't be sent until after the year's second installment of property tax bills are mailed in the fall.

Property Tax Public Hearings Planned

Republican State Sen. Luke Kenley has announced the first in a series of public hearings on the property tax issue.

The meeting is scheduled for July 23 at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Indiana Government Center South, at 402 W. Washington St.

The focus will be on the cause of property tax increases, as well as long-term and short-term solutions.

Hearings are expected to continue through the fall.