VALPARAISO | Efforts to get property tax bills back on track hit a potentially huge snag Tuesday when the county auditor revealed he favors sticking with a software firm blamed for much of the delays.

The revelation sent a couple Porter County Council members storming out of their meeting temporarily and touched off a heated debate.

"There's no way I'm going to stick with Hamer (Enterprises of Texas)," council member Dan Whitten said, referring to the original software maker in question.

Whitten and other council members spoke in favor of staying on course with the process of switching from Hamer to L.L. Low Associates, of South Bend, to provide tax software for the auditor's and treasurer's offices.

Auditor James Kopp said he believes Hamer offers a more advanced software system than Low.

Sharon Lippens, director of the county's Information Technologies and Service Department, disagreed, saying she favors the transition to Low.

Low is the only one of the two companies to earn the necessary approval to operate in Indiana and is capable of handling the county's tax needs, she said. If there are additional options the county wants, she said that can be discussed later with Low.

The process of transferring data to the Low system is complete and is awaiting final approval from Kopp, she said.

The county is paying $332,000 for the Low software to replace the Hamer system, which cost $215,620.

The council called a meeting for 5 p.m. June 3 to further discuss the snag.

The county, in the meantime, is left with no tax software system for the auditor and treasurer, which stalls a proposal pitched Tuesday by Kopp to send out alternative tax bills between July 1 and 15.

The "requests for payment" would replace the provisional bills sent out last year, he said. This approach was successfully used last year by St. Joseph County, which collected 85 percent of its revenue, he said.

There is a potential, however, that escrow companies will not pay the requests because they are not real bills, council member Mike Bucko said.

Council member Karen Conover said the continued tax delays are hurting the bond ratings for some local taxing units.

Portage Mayor Olga Velazquez said the delay in receiving revenue makes it tough to operate.

"It is getting pretty desperate in terms of getting ends to meet," she said.