CROWN POINT | Lake County property tax bills will be late again this spring.

First installment bills should be out in July instead of May, an announcement that appeared to take Lake County Commissioners by surprise Wednesday.

"Aren't we back on schedule?" asked Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville. "That's what I've been telling people."

County Auditor Peggy Holinga Katona blamed the delay in 2007 pay 2008 bills on a hangover from a statewide change last year in how properties are assessed. Confusion among some township assessors in the new process stalled the bills for many months, Lake County Treasurer John Petalas said.

Several counties throughout the state are expected to send late bills this year because the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance has not received assessed values from the majority of counties, department spokeswoman Mary Jane Michalak said.

The department received Lake County's assessments March 3, but Department of Local Government Finance officials haven't reviewed them yet because they were sent in an incompatible computer format, Michalak said.

Lake County tax bills will be late in part because the state has not yet approved the county's abstract, which details the breakdown of taxes, Petalas said.

Another reason for the delay is to give taxpayers more than four months to pay the two tax bills they received in January, Petalas said.

He said if the state doesn't approve the county's abstract by the end of the month, it will begin preparing provisional bills, which charges the taxpayer 45 percent of last year's tax bill. A second bill in November would include the balance, Petalas said.

Holinga Katona said November tax bills should be on time, and that she hoped there would be no delay in next spring's bills.

County commissioners asked Holinga Katona to learn whether the county could send taxpayers a letter, included with their state rebate checks, that would urge them to pay their taxes early.

Holinga Katona said certain information must be included in the rebate letters, and she would need to talk more with state officials to determine if a county letter legally could be included with it. Holinga Katona said she hopes rebate checks will be mailed in May.