HOBART | Larry Acheff, Lake County Library director, said Monday his library district will be hit doubly hard by the recently approved state tax restructuring plan.

Along with the decrease in property taxes the library will receive, the General Assembly has eliminated capital project funds for libraries.

That amounts to about $900,000 in money the library counts on to pay for such things as new computers and other technology, he said.

"We only learned about it during the last few days. We'll take a big hit," Acheff said.

Acheff wasn't alone in his reaction to tax information presented at a nearly four-hour workshop by representatives of H.J. Umbaugh & Associates.

The workshop, hosted by Hobart officials, took place in the police substation conference room at the Westfield Southlake mall.

Officials representing Hobart, Griffith, Hammond, Schererville and Whiting came to gather information and ask questions of the two presenters.

And most, like Hobart Clerk-Treasurer Deborah Longer, just scratched their heads about the future affect the tax caps will have on their communities.

"There isn't anywhere else to cut," Longer said of her city's proposed budget.

Because of the tax caps, she said officials might have to start charging user fees for what had been free services.

The tax restructuring will impact each community in Lake and Porter counties by redistributing property taxes the communities would have received, Todd Samuelson, of Umbaugh & Associates, said.

For the city of Hobart, the changes will mean an estimated $332,000 in cuts in 2010, he said.

In nearby Lake Station, the cuts are an estimated $484,618, according to information compiled by Umbaugh & Associates.

Samuelson and fellow presenter John Julien also offered short- and long-term advice about how to handle the tax changes.

Longer joked that the workshop should have been held one day later, on April 1.

"I was hoping this was an April Fools' joke," Longer said.