Legislature Passes Budget, Other Bills

Indiana homeowners will get a refund on their 2007 property tax bills, under a state budget lawmakers passed just before this year’s session of the general assembly adjourned last night. Homeowners will first have to pay tax bills that will be on average 24 percent higher than the 2006 bills and then wait for a refund check later in the year that would reduce that increase to about 10 percent. The legislature also passed bills last night that would increase in the cigarette tax to fund health initiatives, restructure property taxes and authorize slot machines at the state's two pari-mutuel horse tracks.