As Marion County residents line up this week to pay their property tax reconciliation bills , I spoke to some area officials to get their take on the subject…

Governor Mitch Daniels

The reassessment was more fair than what homeowners were paying before. Homeowners would have been paying what businesses should have been paying. People make mistakes and he doesn’t doubt that many individual assessments need further corrections.

Reassessments are just part of the overall tax reform and as caps come in Marion County residents will see much lower property tax bills. They can expect a reduction in 2009 to 1½ percent cap and 2010 when the 1 percent cap kicks in.

Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman

People have been in relatively good spirits paying their bills. The rebate checks have helped somewhat. Rodman says he will go back to the Legislature and ask for an option monthly installment plan for all property taxes. Rodman says paying your property tax bill monthly would be like paying your other monthly utilities. He says he and the Ballard administration will be approaching the General Assembly about implementing such a plan.

Shirley Mizen, Deputy Auditor Marion County

More than 3,000 property tax rebate checks have come back to the Marion County Auditor’s office. Mizen says some of the checks have come back because of bad addresses , the homeowner has moved and the checks can’t be forwarded or the property owner was on vacation and had their mail held so it came back to the Auditor as required by law.

Mizen says as the checks come back they will review whether it should have gone out in the first place and those that should have will be resent. In the event a check is returned another time, if it is over $10 it will be valid for two years and then go into the Attorney General’s Unclaimed Property Fund .

More than 255,000 property tax rebate checks have been sent out to residential homeowners.

I’ll have more tales for you tomorrow.

Every time I see a story like this one about people protesting taxes, I think to myself, “Gee, I wonder how these people got to this protest? I wonder if they drove here on roads that their tax dollars funded. I wonder if they learned to read and write — and make goofy signs! — at public schools. I wonder if they understand how government works, or if they just decided to bust out the pitchforks and torches with no real logical follow-through.”

No one likes taxes, and everyone thinks they’re paying more than their fair share. We could debate how much people should pay and where that money should be spent for hours and hours.

But that’s not what these folks want to do.

They want to extricate themselves from this whole tax situation because they don’t feel like they should have to pay into the system, even though they regularly dig into the fruits it produces.

Sorry, y’all, it just doesn’t work that way.

Now, if you want to sign an affidavit stating that you will never, ever use a taxpayer-funded service or asset, so be it. You can be excused. But this isn’t a pick-and-choose situation. You’re either in or out. All or nothing.

What’s that?

Oh, you don’t like that idea so pretty much?

Then I suggest you set aside your hyperbole and come have a seat at the Big Kid Table, where we can have a meaty discussion about where the money — the money we all pay — should go.

Just remember, the last time voters relied on their emotions at the polls, we wound up with a Mayor who thinks it’s big economic development news when Dunkin’ Donuts opens up a block from the City-County Building.

How silly is it that the Marion County Auditor is sending out 8 cent rebate checks to property taxpayers?

I’m not blaming Billie Breaux one bit for this. The legislature, in its all-consuming mania for getting all the credit for property tax relief, has dictated every aspect of this process, right down to the wording and the size of the type in the letter that accompanies the checks.

But couldn’t our crack lawmakers have included the same language that’s in the income tax law, that the state doesn’t have to issue any refund, nor do taxpayers have to pay any obligation, when it’s less than a dollar?

So we have the silliness of county government spending more than five times the amount of the rebate just on the stamp to mail the check.

The Republican candidate for Marion County Treasurer needs to prepare better for his news conferences. Especially when they concern hot-button issues like property taxes.

David Moscrip called the media together to discuss his plan to convert tax bills from their current semi-annual format (at least in the relatively few years when the assessments aren’t screwed up) to a monthly format.

There are pros and cons to this idea that deserve debate. It would allow people to pay smaller bills and give them more certainty to plan their budgets over a longer period of time, just like the budget billing by the electric and gas utilities.

But it would also create uncertainty among schools and local government units. Would their property tax revenue come in in two big blocks each year, or in twelve smaller dribbles, forcing them to borrow money to keep operating? And since Moscrip was unclear about whether everybody would be converted to this system or only those who want it, how would the Treasurer send out bills without a previous (and expensive) mailing to determine each taxpayer’s preference?

But the biggest question is: How would you send out monthly bills in a year like 2008 (or 2007), when the assessments and tax rates are all very late and there’s no way of knowing what your final bill will look like? This would seem to be the one question a candidate should have expected before all others and been instantly prepared to answer. But Moscrip stared at me, saying nothing for what seemed like an eternity, before stumbling through an answer about “paying the normal rate” (whatever that is) until final tax rates are available, then making an adjustment.

It was not a good performance and reminded me of some of Greg Ballard’s early news conferences. Of course, Ballard is now mayor. But as most people would concede, those were special circumstances. And unless Moscrip is able to pin the blame for high taxes on Treasurer Mike Rodman, who just sends out the bills and isn’t responsible for their size, he’s unlikely to benefit from having another Bart Peterson opposite him on the ballot.