VALPARAISO | After a heated discussion surrounding possible tax relief plans, the Porter County Council voted on and rejected the plan submitted by County Treasurer Jim Murphy two months ago.

Murphy's proposal tapped $8.4 million of interest from the sale of Porter hospital to immediately enact a 1 percent property tax cap to homeowners and offer partial reimbursement to taxing units forced to borrow funds last year because of delayed tax bills.

The final vote was 4-2, with Jim Burge and Karen Conover voting in favor of the plan and Bob Poparad, Dan Whitten, Mike Bucko and Rita Stevenson voting against it. Councilman William Carmichael was absent.

The bulk of the discussion centered around the principle of the proposal. Council members questioned whether it is fair to support a plan that might not offer relief to all taxpayers, and whether the county should pay for delays that were at least partially the state's fault.

"This plan does not benefit everyone," said Whitten, referring to taxpayers whose property taxes are already below 1 percent. "I'm not going to turn my back on South Haven and unincorporated Porter County. They went to the hospital too; they paid for it too. But now they're out."

Whitten said he favors leaving the hospital sale proceeds alone. Should the county decide to tap the fund, it should be distributed to all county residents in an increased homestead credit or rebate checks, he said.

"We shouldn't vote for something that takes money that belongs to everybody but doesn't give it back to everybody," Whitten said.

Burge and Conover said residents who are under the 1 percent tax cap received relief from the state a few years ago, when officials upped the homestead credit from $35,000 to $45,000.

"They have already been taken care of, " Burge said. "This just evens the playing field."

Burge also argued against the notion that the state was at fault for the majority of the delays associated with last year's tax collection. Burge said that only seven counties were behind Porter County last year and only five are behind Porter so far this year.

"There are 86 counties doing a better job than Porter County out of 92," Burge said. "We've got to take action and provide some kind of relief. We can talk and dissect all we want, but I think Treasurer Murphy's proposal is a good plan for reimbursement."

In the end, Burge made the motion to recommend adopting Murphy's plan with Conover seconding the action. After the plan failed to garner enough support, no other motions were entertained. Poparad said the issue likely will be re-evaluated later this year.