VALPARAISO | The Porter County Assessor's office continues to be stumped in its attempts to win state approval of information needed to move forward with the preparation of next year's tax bills.

During an informal tax status meeting Thursday, Porter County Assessor John Scott said his office has repeatedly submitted the tax ratio study to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance only to have it returned as incomplete or incorrect.

The hope is approval will come next week for the study -- a comparison between assessed property values and actual sales prices, according to Janine Chrisman, of the assessor's office.

The ratio studies were supposed to be submitted for review and approved by May 28 to give counties the best chance at getting tax bills out on time next year, according to Amanda Stanley, assistant director of communications at the DLGF.

The county is unable to take the next full step in the preparation of the tax bills until the ratio study is approved.

A total of 81 of the state's 92 counties have already received approval of their tax ratio studies, with 24 of those completing additional steps in the bill preparation process, according to a status map posted online by the DLGF.

Neighboring Lake and LaPorte counties have yet to submit their studies for consideration.

Scott also announced Thursday that not quite half of the 5,162 tax appeals filed for years 2007 through 2009 have been heard by the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.

The large backlog is the result of the flood of appeals filed when the state began its new property tax system, he said. Scott hopes as taxpayers learn more about the changes, the number of appeals will decrease.