North Cook News

Katy Dolan Baumer, the Republican candidate running for the 44th District House of Representatives against Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates), is disappointed for Illinois residents who are struggling to stay on top of their mortgage payments. 

"When I visit residents in my community, the despair is widespread,” Baumer told North Cook News. “I hear it repeatedly that residents will be moving in the near future to a state that has more reasonable property taxes. They will move as soon as their youngest graduates, as soon as they reach retirement age, as soon as their partner retires, as soon as they finish the minor remodel projects that will make their home more salable."

The second largest school district in the state, U-46 is in Baumer's district and residents are drowning under the financial burdens that the district imposes, often without offering better services. The situation is compounded by the fact that Illinois ranks fifth in the country when it comes to mortgages that are underwater.

"Residents are angry that their property taxes are being used for administrative purposes, shared with other districts (notably Chicago Public Schools), and that no matter how much the taxes are raised the quality of education does not increase. Nor do the services," Baumer said. "The people are not angry with the teachers but the system that is letting it fail."

The tax burden still remains unbearable even for families who have paid off their mortgages, which is why Baumer plans to massively reform Illinois taxes, she said.

"My task, once elected, is not only to address revamping the property tax system but to also address education funding to make sure it is fair and not overly burdensome on budgets already stretched tight by other circumstances,” Baumer said. “In order to make a property attractive, other elements of the community must be attractive as well.”

Crespo is doing the opposite of making life in the 44th district manageable, she said.

"My opponent has voted to authorize Graduate Research Assistant Unions, has voted against the School Funding Plan, voted to increase taxes … and other votes that are not helping the residents of our district, but in fact are putting the squeeze on an already tight pocketbook,” Baumer said. 

Whether a family has been in the 44th district for years or is new to the area, all of them deserve a chance at a life well-lived, she said.