Ron Krak just put his DeWitt home on the market so he and his wife can move to Arizona.

He says they're ready to escape the area's down economy, cold weather, and something else, which just arrived in the mail the other day.

"I got my tax assessment," he says, and "it's a pretty good, hefty chunk."

Nearly $4,000-- just for the summer tax installment.

"And then winter taxes is almost $1,000-- we're talking almost $5,000 a year," Krzak says.

Krzak isn't the only one footing some pretty hefty-- and growing-- bills.

"Taxes are going up this year," says Lisa Grysen, DeWitt City Treasurer.

Grysen says, for the most part, Michigan homeowners are all seeing the same frustrating situation: their taxes are up, but their home values are down.

That's thanks to Proposal A, which says your taxable value can increase at 5 percent a year, or at the rate of inflation-- whichever is less. This year, it's inflation at 4.4 percent.

The proposal saved people money when the housing market was doing well, but...

"That'll probably be little consolation for a property owner with the job market the way it is, to afford property taxes," says DeWitt City Administrator Chris Olson.

Fortunately, if you feel like you can't afford to pay the taxes by the Septmeber 30 deadline, there are some payment options-- just call your city assessor and talk it over with him or her.

"We've had a lot of people ask if they can make partial payments, I'm more than happy to help in any way," Grysen says.

And senior citizens and disabled people can also apply to have their payments deferred until February 14. They would face no penalty or interest.

Krzak says he's just going to cough it up in whole-- and hopes he's in Arizona by the next tax deadline.