Francine M.: It makes me sad to think that I am taking money out of my retirement to pay for somebody else’s retirement

Francine owns a 5,113 square foot, five-bedroom, five-bath Wheaton home that is currently assessed at $1,115,340.

Francine took possession of the home in 1999. She has paid $136,506.66 in property taxes in the past five years alone and around $410,000 since she first bought the property in 2001.

“It makes it very difficult. It makes it difficult to plan because I have to come up with almost $15,000 in June and then again on Aug. 31,” Francine said. “Quite honestly, we’re taking money out of our retirement account to pay for our property taxes.”

Francine is currently paying $2,442.42 per month in property taxes on their home, over seven percent of the DuPage County Assessor claimed value of $1,115,340.

Francine is currently paying $2,442.42 per month in property taxes on their home, over seven percent of the DuPage County Assessor claimed value of $1,115,340.

“No one in [office in] the state of Illinois seems to give off the impression that they manage money wisely,” Francine said. “It makes me sad to think that I am taking money out of my retirement to pay for somebody else’s retirement. I don’t think they manage what they have very well. I feel like if they need more money, they just raise the property taxes. They never cut spending. They just raise property taxes.”

Indiana has a hard 1 percent cap on property taxes. This means local governments are not allowed under state law to charge homeowner’s more than 1 percent of their home’s assessed value per year. The average property tax rate for the state of Indiana is 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the average property tax rate in Illinois is 2.3 percent.

If Francine lived in Indiana the most she could be charged in property taxes would be $11,153.40 per year or $18,155.64 less than what she currently pays in Illinois.

“We’ve talked about [moving out of Illinois] all the time,” Francine said. “We do feel like it’s something we have to give serious consideration even though I’d be devastated if I have to move away from my children. We don’t think Illinois is heading in the right direction anytime soon. It just seems like it’s not a very hopeful situation at all. ”