“I was born and raised here in San Antonio, in Harlandale. I left for a couple of years for school and came right back. I got married, I had kids. I bought my home for $180,000 in the early ‘80s in Harlandale.
But a lot of the families who were there when I grew up moved out. Why?
Well, when you add in the school district, the city and all the other local governments, my property tax bill is about $3,300 a year.
I’m blessed. My husband has a good job, I have a good job. I’m trying to save money for my retirement so I don’t have to face what 60-70 percent of people in my area are faced with: the possibility of losing their home.
There are families being retired out of their homes that they’ve worked for all of their lives. As soon as they retire from their job, people must retire from their homes because they can’t afford the tax bill.
It’s so sad when you go to the courthouse steps and you’ve got the list of foreclosures because the taxes haven’t been paid a family worked for that home their entire lives and now it’s being auctioned. We can’t let our governments continue to raise taxes to the point where homes are being lost, to the point where families have nothing.”
— Gina Castañeda
San Antonio, Texas