Republicans, Governor Possibly Split Over Special Session

INDIANAPOLIS -- Republican Indiana state senators said during a news conference Tuesday morning that they don't support the prospect of a special session to address the state's property tax crisis.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long said it wouldn't be productive to call a special session until there is agreement on a program to relieve the property tax crisis, and he is not hopeful that will happen right away.

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Capitol WatchBlog: Property Tax Crisis Analysis

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Long said that a better timetable might be to wait for lawmakers to return for their annual Organization Day in November and then stay for a couple of weeks to pass something rather than going home until January, as they usually do.

Long wants a commission, headed by Sen. Luke Kenley, to have that much time to come up with recommendations.

"While we understand that the calls for a special session are out of the concern to try to achieve some short-term solutions, unless we have agreement heading into that ... or at least some coalescence around an idea, that it's probably doomed to failure," Long said.

Gov. Mitch Daniels remains noncommittal on calling a special session. Daniels said Tuesday that he will call one if he thinks an answer can be found for tax relief.

"Maybe yes, maybe no. I mean, we need additional action, lots of it, and ... that could happen as late as November," Daniels said. "If we know, if we find the right formula, or I think we have, I won't hesitate to call them back and get at this sooner."

Daniels also said that his attorneys have not found a way to change rebate checks into credits on the fall bill without a special session to change the law that created them.

On June 18, Daniels temporarily froze Marion County's property tax bills at 2006 amounts and ordered a reassessment there, saying the most recent assessment favored commercial properties and shifted an unfair portion of the tax burden to homeowners.

Taxpayers in other Indiana counties are also angered by bills they claim are unfair and will cause some of them to lose their homes.

Governor To Order Reassessment In Other Counties?

Daniels could be preparing to order reassessments in some other Indiana counties, too.

The governor is scheduled to attend a news conference Wednesday morning with the new commissioner of the Department of Local Government Finance to "update the status of the DLGF's examination of aggregate tax data for several Indiana counties," a news release said.

Daniels had asked the DLGF to determine whether soaring property tax bills in some counties were due in part to unfair assessments.

His order for a reassessment in Marion County came after the DLGF confirmed his belief that the original assessment there was botched.