INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A group representing Indiana's township and county assessors has drafted an alternative to Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax plan, which the group says goes too far.

The Indiana Assessors Association said it's property tax streamlining plan would replace Indiana's 92 elected county assessors with 10 appointed regional administrators.

Gov. Daniels' property tax reform package would eliminate Indiana's 1,008 elected township and county assessors and appoint one assessor in each county. Those assessors would be named by city councils rather than elected by voters.

But the assessors group thinks its approach would lead to greater consistency in the assessment process and would also help improve the bad image of their line of work created by this year's assessment problems.

Despite efforts to meet with Daniels or his aides to discuss their proposal, the assessors say they've been shut out by the administration. The group has been working on its plan for the past year.

"What's really disappointing is that the people who are making these major decisions have no interest in talking with the people that are doing this work every day," said Franklin Township Assessor Becky Williams, who is president of the Indiana Assessors Association.

"We believe that what we've come up with is the best deal for taxpayers and for assessors and their staff members who have the education, credentials and experience."

The governor's plan was prompted by flaws in assessments that led Daniels to order them redone in several counties this year.

While his plan would appoint one assessor in each county, the assessors association's plan would replace elected county assessors with a system headed by the 10 regional assessor supervisors, who would report to the state Department of Revenue.

It would also replace elected township assessors with an experienced, certified assessor picked by the regional supervisor.

Daniels contends that Indiana has too many people involved in the assessment system, and that leads to assessments that, in terms of accuracy, are inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another.

He also thinks too few of the people doing the work have the education and training they need and that the job is too political.

"It makes sense to place the responsibility for assessments in each county with a single appointed official of demonstrated professional skills and competence," Daniels said in a statement detailing his plan.

A 2001 report by the National Association of Counties indicates 24 states have elected county assessors and nine have appointed county assessors. An additional 15 states do not have county-level assessors, leaving the work to be done at the state level.

Williams, a Republican like Daniels, agrees with him that the system needs fixing — up to a point.

"Indiana has a lot of very competent, educated people doing assessments, but there are a few that aren't — and they are really hurting us," she said.

Daniels' plan would leave taxpayers without a local official to turn to for help, Williams argues.

"I hear it every day from taxpayers who come into my office. They say, 'I can't get in to see the governor. I can't get in to see the mayor. But, by golly, I can get in to see you,'" she said.

George Geib, a professor of history at Butler University, said the township assessors' connection to the voters at the local level may be their ace in the hole.

"The biggest problem the governor will have getting this whole thing through is getting past this engine of political activity," he said of township politics. "These offices do involve a number of people who are very politically active and assertive, and they are likely to dig in their heels and make it hard."