INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer on Tuesday said a special legislative session on property tax relief would be useful only if leading lawmakers can strike a bipartisan agreement beforehand.

Daniels' comment came a day after he said he was "exploring some ideas with legislators" about how a special session might help people whose property tax bills have skyrocketed.

Daniels (pictured) said Tuesday that he isn't yet ready to share the ideas publicly, but he did have harsh words for the property assessments that played a part in the bill increases. He said he has ordered a state investigation of an apparent disparity between residential and commercial reassessment in some counties, including Marion County, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Any reassessments that favored business properties at the expense of homeowners might be thrown out, Daniels said.

"I think maybe it needs to -- and not just in Marion County," Daniels said. "There's a huge gap between what they found in residential and what they found in commercial.

"If you take a big increase in (local government) spending -- 10 percent in Marion County's case -- coupled with a botched assessment that leaves all that burden or most of it on some residences, you got a big problem."

Bauer, like Daniels, said a special session would be useful only if lawmakers agreed on a tax-relief plan first. The South Bend Democrat didn't appear optimistic that such a deal was likely -- he said Republicans wouldn't give him one vote for a property-tax plan during the regular session, which ended in the spring.

"Does (Daniels) have a plan, and what is the plan?" Bauer asked. "Does he have the votes for it? We don't want to waste taxpayer money by coming here and doing what they did during the session."

If lawmakers don't meet for a special session, the General Assembly won't reconvene until January.

Daniels said he already has directed the Department of Local Government Finance to approve any county's application to permit homeowners to pay their property taxes in installments and to extend bill due dates. He said he also had ordered the Indiana Bond Bank to facilitate short-term financing by local governments that need cash while awaiting installments.

According to estimates by the Legislative Services Agency, property taxes on homeowners were expected to increase an average of 24 percent statewide this year. But residents in parts of Marion County have seen much higher increases, prompting some to protest in front of the governor's residence this month.

During their regular session this year, lawmakers approved rebates that were projected to lower the average increase to about 7.7 percent, but the rebates won't be sent until after this year's second installment of property tax bills are mailed in the fall.