School costs are taxing seniors out of homes

This letter is in response to Jason Daley (Your Views, Jan. 2). You seem to know about all the senior exemptions for seniors, but you are sadly mistaken. All the exemptions available add up to a pittance of a few hundred dollars, yet the tax bills go up by the thousands.

There are those of us who don’t see any increases in pensions. My pension payment was set in stone the day I finally retired, with no cost-of-living adjustments. Sixty days after I retired, my health insurance ended because I no longer put in the hours to support it. My Social Security and pension together don’t come to a third of what teachers and city and state employees receive.

You talk about less crime, fewer police, better health and a wealth of other things. Where? All I see is a tax system that supports a school system putting us out of our homes. I’ve paid penalties because the tax bill consumes nearly half of all the money I receive for the year, and at 70 years of age I can’t go out and get another job. Seventy percent of my tax bill goes to the school districts.

I’ve lived in my home since 1971 and paid taxes to the school districts all those years and never complained. But it’s getting to the point that it’s impossible for me to continue paying for all the artificial turf and swimming pools any longer. I paid all the while my children went to these schools and now I think that seniors deserve the break. Someday soon, all those who feel as you do will get old. That is unless you retire as a teacher or get a pension that’s as much as you were paid before you retired.

Kenneth Milowski

Palatine