A popular property tax relief program for low-income seniors and the disabled ends Saturday. The state is reminding Illinois senior citizens now is their last chance to be approved for the "Illinois Cares & Circuit Breaker Property Tax Grant."
In Illinois over 165,000 residents will feel the impact of these cuts. In Rock Island County there are 2,173 people losing the property tax relief.
Last year Project Now helped over 700 low-income seniors in Rock Island County apply for this circuit breaker tax grant. Now, all of those people along with thousands other in Illinois will have to pay out of pocket.
The "Illinois Cares and Circuit Breaker Relief Program" provides grants to eligible seniors and those with disabilities to help them reduce costs of property taxes, license plate renewals and rides on public transit. However, after June 30, the property tax grants no longer will be available.
The Project Now Executive Director, Mo Hart, tells KWQC that could mean an extra $25-30 per month pushed to these low income seniors.
"It's a great case of shifting the cost to the individual and to the household. That's kind of the ultimate question right now isn't it? Isn't that what it all comes down to? What the government is picking up and what the individual is picking up," Mo Hart told KWQC.
Many seniors rely on the property tax relief, but do get help through Medicare Part D with prescriptions, but the state, facing a huge deficit and mounting debt, has to cut spending.
It's important to note the license plate and public transit discount is not ending. But aside from those two small parts, some QCA seniors say the $25-$30 extra per month doesn't seem like a lot, but it makes life more difficult when you live on a restricted income.
"It'll affect us a lot because we're on an amount that we get every month and no savings or anything so, it would affect us quite a bit, you know how am I going to pay for all of this? I take a lot of medicine," Wanda Chance-Samier told KWQC.
Although the program is ending, seniors and the disabled can still apply until Saturday online at the Illinois Department on Aging's website at www.state.il.us/aging for the property tax grants. Mailed applicants must be post-marked by June 30.
