More Chicago area homeowners whose property taxes skyrocketed are left stuck, wondering how they will pay those bills, with those bills due on Monday.

Finding the extra cash to do so has proven more difficult during the holiday season, especially for homeowners in the Grand Crossing neighborhood.

They're frustrated, stressed, and trying to figure out where this money is going to come from. One bill shows that the amount has more than doubled from $1,600 to more than $3,500.

An Army veteran from a family of veterans, Kaliff Chilembwe always dreamed of buying a home, and eight years ago, that dream came true. 

"Mine. Mine. Mine. I've got all my investments in it. When we got here, it was empty. Now it's full," he said.

That dream later turned into a nightmare after opening his property tax bill. 

"We looked at each other and said, 'Why?' And then we said, 'How?"

He laughed at the issue because it's all he says he can do.  

"What are you going to do next? Take my veteran home? Nah, I don't think so," he said.

His property taxes going up 118%. Chilembwe said he's been living paycheck-to-paycheck, and the increase is going to hurt. 

As previously reported, the average homeowner is paying about $700 more this year because of millions of dollars cut in adjustments for commercial property tax bills this year. Big buildings and hotels downtown, a burden the assessor said was shifted to homeowners.

"For many other neighborhoods, the burden shift accounts for the majority of the tax bill increase," said Fritz Kaegi, Cook County Assessor.

"This is going to continue to happen unless we change some rules," said UChicago professor Chris Berry.

Berry, who has studied property taxes, said that in order to prevent this from happening again, it's going to take a change in law.

"You'd have to change the constitution," he said. "But an example of the kind of provision like this, which exists in many states, would be just to say a tax bill cannot increase by, let's say, more than 3% per year."

Chilembwe said his family will dip into their savings to pay the bill and avoid accumulated interest, but they're not going down without a fight.

"There has to be a better way," he said.

While Monday was the deadline for an adjusted bill, homeowners can still file for an exemption through a certificate of error through the Cook County Assessor's Office.