HAMMOND | Following the lead of downstate residents, Robertsdale homeowner JoAnn Palko isn't waiting for this fall's tax bills to rally the forces against expected property tax hikes.

"If we wait for our tax bills, it will be too late," she told more than 100 people attending the Team Hammond-sponsored taxpayers meeting at Woodmar United Methodist Church.

Palko is even raising the bar in the issue. Palko said she has spoken with the office of Eric Miller, a former gubernatorial candidate bested by now Gov. Mitch Daniels, who Palko said is making headway in an effort to repeal property taxes altogether.

"We need help up here," Palko said she told Miller's people. "We need an anti-property tax rally up here, and we need it now."

Palko shared with the group the Internet addresses of national anti-tax groups and called for collaboration with other local groups.

"There's strength in numbers," she said.

What galvanzied Palko was thinking she had won the war when she succeeded in appealing her 2002 property tax assessment and actually received a $2,000 refund. Instead, her recent assessment notice reverted to the original amount, and a call from the North Township assessor's office informed her it would go higher yet.

"We need to either call, write or e-mail Gov. Daniels and say 'Enough is enough,' " Palko said.

Palko joined speakers Wes Miller and Jim Premeske in calling for tax reform, which they said must go hand-in-hand with cuts in spending by local government.

Premeske said analyses by the state's Legislative Services Agency already have proven Lake County's main problem is overspending, while Miller said voter apathy also has played a major role.

But one member of the audience was frustrated by more fundamental questions, such as the fluctuating "neighborhood" ratings that appear on his assessment notices.

"And you can't change them," he said. "It seems unfair."

That prompted Republican mayoral candidate George Janiec to chuckle in empathy.

To the state's way of thinking, a "neighborhood" isn't what most people think of as a neighborhood, he said in making an attempt to cut through the complexity of the assessment process. Janiec said in a designated geographic area, single-family homes are compared to each other, as are townhomes or duplexes, rather than as a neighborhood.