By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network
McHENRY – Fed up with high property taxes, one Northern Illinois man paid his tax bill in singles.
Aylward lives in the McHenry County house his family built in 1911. His tax bill is more than $11,000. It was $2,700 in 1993.
Because of the ballooning taxes, Aylward said he will be the last family member to live in that house.
“When I end up leaving that driveway, I will cry,” Aylward said, becoming emotional. “It’s the one thing in my life. It’s a part of my family and I’m being priced out of it.”
To protest the high taxes, Aylward gave the first payment of his property tax bill to the county treasurer in $1 denominations. He said politicians don’t understand the burden homeowners are experiencing.
“People are leaving the state at a rate of one every 10 minutes, but they don’t care. They think, ‘So what? Sell your house. Somebody else will buy it and they will pay the taxes.’ ”
Aylward said his bill was one of the few that qualified to be frozen three years ago. It would have been more than $14,000 otherwise.
State Sen. Pam Althoff , R-McHenry, said Aylward is right to be upset.
“They need to let the taxing entities know that they can no longer afford these ever-rising property taxes,” Althoff said.
Coincidentally, another man dropped off his property tax bill in all singles as well. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
Illinoisans pay the highest median property taxes in the nation.
