CROWN POINT | A private consulting firm that has received blame for helping stir up a taxpayer revolt several years ago in Lake County hopes to return, under a different name, to conduct a new tax reassessment.

Tyler Technologies, a Dallas-based information management company, is among at least six businesses seeking to bid next month on a public contract expected to be worth between $18 million and $25 million to reassess values of the county's 247,000 real estate parcels.

Tyler's business subsidiary, Cole Layer Trumble, or CLT, of Dayton, Ohio, won a contract seven years ago to finish the 2002 county reassessment begun by the now-defunct accounting firm of Arthur Andersen.

That reassessment resulted in dramatically higher property tax bills for tens of thousands of property owners in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting.

About 27,800 property owners appealed the assessments, and half won findings of error and a reduction of property value assessments.

Taxpayer furor spawned litigation, calls for local government to slash public spending and the creation of a property tax cap system, the merits of which are still being debated in the General Assembly.

County officials blamed the discontent on Arthur Andersen, CLT and state officials who imposed the firm on the county.

CLT and state officials insist the reassessment was done properly and corrected years of erroneous assessments by elected township assessors, who state officials claim would give homeowners tax breaks to curry favor with voters.

Tyler officials in Texas and Ohio couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment.

Three of Lake County's township assessors -- from Calumet, Ross and St. John townships -- have asked to do the reassessment rather than outsource the work.