Rock Island Today

Andrea Anderson didn’t mince any words when Gov. Bruce Rauner knocked on her door.

“We talked about how it would be so simple for many Illinois residents to move to Iowa or one of the other border states and have much more value to our homes given how high property taxes are here in the state,” she told Rock Island Today. “I know my home would be almost worth $100,000 more given what property taxes are here and what they are in Iowa.”

Rauner came calling on the Moline family after Anderson was recommended to him by a field coordinator of one of his outreach programs. Rauner wanted to speak with residents struggling with the state’s runaway tax rates.

Gov. Bruce Rauner

Anderson works in Iowa but wants to stay in Illinois for the sake of her children and family, she said, although she came close to leaving for the Hawkeye State in 2015.

“Day by day, it gets harder to justify staying in Illinois,” she said. “You believe that one day you’ll get a state budget and things will start to get better, but year after year you’re left waiting for what everyone else already has.”

Born in Illinois and having returned here from California in 2001, Anderson said she doesn’t know what the future might hold.

“I don’t know if I will stay or go,” she said. “I’m still trying to see things clearly, and the governor was quite understanding to that.”

Rauner has reinforced his belief that property taxes are too high and nothing short of a permanent tax freeze will work. He has also said the tax situation is one of the primary forces behind residents fleeing the state.

"What we've got to do is real change," he told the website Our Quad Cities. "Things that really matter. A two-year freeze, that's a nice headline, it wouldn't change things."

Meanwhile, lawmakers are still working on a budget agreement before the new fiscal year kicks in on July 1.