CROWN POINT | Property tax rebate checks will blossom in Lake County mail boxes early next month, county officials said Monday.

Lake County Auditor Peggy Holinga Katona said she expects to be sending out $28.1 million in rebate checks by early May.

"Within three weeks, checks will be in the mail," she said.

She said the county will send out 133,380 checks.

The rebate is a one-time, tax relief package the Indiana General Assembly enacted last year to offset property tax increases.

State officials said last year the average rebate would be about $236.

Katona said she expects rebates to average from 10 percent to 13 percent of the homestead's bill, which was paid late last year. The rebates will not go to those who failed to pay taxes last year or those already enjoying property tax caps.

She said anyone who still owes property taxes will get a letter indicating their rebate was applied to the delinquency.

The rebates also will be reduced for the nearly 30,000 homeowners -- primarily in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Whiting, Griffith, and Munster -- whose properties already are protected by the circuit breaker, which caps property taxes at 2 percent of gross assessed value of homes there.