INDIANAPOLIS -- An initial look at property value assessments in Marion County indicate they might have been done unfairly, causing homeowners' taxes to rise too high and business owners' not high enough, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday.

Daniels said if a closer look confirms this, he might order the county, which includes Indianapolis, to scrap its assessment and redo it.

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Capitol WatchBlog: Fixing The Property Tax Crisis

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"If, going property by property, we find that the burden of the new spending in this county was placed unfairly on residences, then I won't hesitate to order a new assessment," Daniels said at a news conference.

Daniels' comments came on a day when Indiana House Republicans announced a plan to provide more property tax relief statewide, reacting to homeowners' outraged complaints about skyrocketing bills.

Also Wednesday, Marion County's treasurer said he was working on a plan to let residents there pay portions of their property tax bills in installments.

Daniels said earlier this week that Marion County might need to redo its assessment, but on Wednesday he seemed more convinced, citing newly released parcel-by-parcel figures, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

"Commercial property in the aggregate went up barely at all over a seven-year period. This seems unlikely. Residential property went up a very large amount over that time," Daniels said.

Daniels suggested the values of commercial properties might not have been assessed in the same manner as the values of residences, causing commercial properties to be undervalued and putting an unfair portion of the tax burden on homeowners.

The governor said he ordered an investigation of apparent disparities between residential and commercial reassessment in other counties as well.

Daniels Gives Counties More Time To Raise Income Taxes

Also Wednesday, Daniels said he is going to give counties, by executive order, a two-month extension in a deadline for them to increase their local option income taxes, perceived by some as fairer than property taxes. Local governments, in theory, would be use the higher income taxes to lower property taxes.

The deadline, which was Aug. 1, will now be Oct. 1.

Earlier this week, Daniels also 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.

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.

Earlier 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.

House Republicans: Put Relief In Bills, Not In Rebate Checks

Wednesday's plan from the Indiana House Republicans had several parts, many of which they unsuccessfully tried to pass during the last legislative session, which ended in the spring.

They want to drop the rebate checks in favor of applying the relief directly to this year's bills. They also called for an immediate reassessment -- of the kind that Daniels was mulling -- in some counties.

The group called for an extension of the filing deadline for the Homestead Credit for fall 2007 and 2008. Without the extension, people who haven't yet applied cannot put the credit toward their property taxes until 2009.

House Republicans also said they want people to pay the increased portion of their property tax bills in installments. Under the plan, people initially would be required to pay only the amount they paid last year, and then pay the increase over time.

Marion County Treasurer Michael Rodman has proposed a similar installment plan for homeowners there.

House Republicans said their plan could be executed administratively and would not require a special legislative session.

Daniels this week suggested that lawmakers could convene a special session for property tax relief if Republicans and Democrats could strike a deal beforehand. Without a special session, the General Assembly wouldn't reconvene until January.