Terri G.: I am constantly concerned about what is going on in the state with the property taxes, the debt and the corruption

Terri owns a 2,832-square-foot, five-bedrooms, four-bathrooms Algonquin home that is currently assessed at $321,726.

Terri built her home in 1988 for $199,783, or $425,819.82 in today’s dollars. Since 2002, she has paid $145,815 in property taxes, nearly three quarters of the original value of her home.

"So we're debt free, we have our mortgage paid off,” Greeno said. “And now we're paying more in property taxes than we paid for our mortgages for the annual payments. Our initial mortgage payments were about $800 a month and now when you take monthly amount - with property taxes - it's well over that. We're getting close to retirement age and when you're looking at that kind of an expense on top of figuring out what you're doing, it really impacts your budget."

Terri is currently paying $10,483 per year in property taxes on her home, about 3.2 percent of the Kane County Assessor claimed value of $321,726.

Terri is currently paying $10,483 per year in property taxes on her home, about 3.2 percent of the Kane County Assessor claimed value of $321,726.

"We built our home in 1988. We think the tax bill was between $2,000 or $3,000 thousand when we first built it,” Greeno said. “Tax bill now is over $10,000. It just went up this year. They didn't send us the assessors valuation so we could protest it. It was published in the Daily Herald so by the time we found out it was published, the date to file any protest was Aug. 9th. It was published on July 9th and the deadline was Aug. 9th. We didn't even know."

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 Terri lived in Indiana the most she could be charged in property taxes would be $3,217.26 per year or $7,265.74 less than what she currently pays in Illinois.

"We have [considered moving out of Illinois] but we own four business and we have two of our three children still here with grandchildren,” Greeno said. “I like being in a major metropolitan area. I love the beauty of the land. We live in a beautiful area and I love the distinct four seasons. We've traveled a lot and we've seen a lot of other places. I've moved here on purpose but I don't like that I am constantly concerned about what is going on in the state with the property taxes, the debt and the corruption."