By VICKI URBANIK

Porter County’s homeowner rebate checks that were authorized in last year’s Indiana General Assembly are expected to be mailed within a week or so.

Porter County Auditor Jim Kopp confirmed earlier projections that some of the rebate checks are so small that it will cost taxpayers more to mail them out: The smallest check his office will issue will be for 17 cents.

Kopp said he asked about not processing checks under $1 but was told by state officials that all checks, no matter how small, must be mailed.

Each rebate is one calculated according to the state’s homestead credit formula. Statewide, the rebates were expected to average slightly more than $200 per homestead.

The state rebates – not to be confused with the economic stimulus checks recently authorized at the federal level – stem from the 2007 General Assembly. Hoping to help out homeowners with rising property tax bills, lawmakers last year set aside a total of $550 million from gambling licensing fees to issue rebates for 2007 and ’08.

The rebates for 2007 must be mailed to homeowners, while the rebates for 2008 will be automatically deducted when the 2008 property tax bills are mailed.

Porter County got just over $9 million in November to send out in rebates to its approximately 45,000 homesteads. Like other counties with delayed 2007 tax bills, Porter County hasn’t been able to send out the checks until now because of delays with finalizing the property taxes collected and distributed.

Kopp said his office will begin printing the checks today and throughout this coming week, then send them to a mailer.

The cost to county government to buy the checks, print them, and fold them totals $10,634, plus an additional $16,785 in postage.

The Porter County Council on Thursday approved a budget transfer in the commissioners’ budget to pay for the postage and agreed to use the interest earned on the $9 million to pay the other processing costs.

Porter County Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, protested that the county has “been sitting on the taxpayers’ money” for several months and is now going to use the interest earned on that money to send taxpayers their checks.

“The whole thing is ludicrous,” said County Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st, citing the 17-cent check.

Posted 3/24/2008