Lake County's township officials have begun mailing out reassessment notices that both confuse and incense property owners.

"We are getting a lot of response," Hanover Township Assessor Carl Spiechert said Tuesday. Jolie Cvacin, a deputy assessor in Cedar Creek Township, said, "People are asking what this means in tax dollars. Unfortunately we don't know yet."

Responses also have been heated, West Creek Township Assessor Rick Niemeyer said.

"They are upset because their assessed value went up, but we haven't had a lot of people who are too irate," Niemeyer said.

That is in contrast to Indianapolis where the Marion County Sheriff's Department will post deputy sheriffs at some of those downstate township offices, Julio Fernandez, public information manager for the department said Tuesday.

"The tax hike is quite severe, and some of the assessors have requested help because they expect some people might be upset," he said.

Assessors across the state are updating the taxable value of all land and buildings for six years of inflation. Increases are ranging from five to 30 percent.

"Initially, there is going to be a shock to many in Gary," Calumet Township Assessor Booker Blumenberg said."We expect a significant increase in their assessed value for many properties."

Wilmer Loudermilk, a Cedar Lake resident and landlord, complains his home -- a 1,500-square-foot bi-level and lot -- went from $129,400 to $232,400. The increase comes despite that his neighborhood -- with "no curbs, no sidewalks" -- is little changed since the 1970s, he said. "That increase is way too much."

But Loudermilk also lives near the northwest shoreline of Cedar Lake, which is undergoing a real estate boom that registered in this reassessment, Spiechert said.

Township assessors said there are other hot spots where the assessed value increases exceed the average, such as White Hawk subdivision in Merrillville, Sunrise Acres subdivision west of Lowell and scattered locations in St. John Township.

Ross Township Assessor Randall Guernsey said he is no rush to send out his reassessment notices.

"We know we will have an enormous amount of appeals," Guernsey said.