PIKE COUNTY BOARD CANDIDATE QUESTIONS 42 PERCENT LEVY INCREASE AS TAX-RATE DEBATE GROWS

PITTSFIELD, IL — Pike County Board candidate and local business owner Chris Lanhum is raising questions about how county property taxes are being discussed, pointing to a significant increase in the total county levy even as the tax rate has generally declined.

Lanhum, who is currently going through the property-tax appeal process, says taxpayers should pay attention not only to the tax rate, but also to the total amount of money the county is levying. In a social media post Thursday, he argued that a lower tax rate can give the impression of tax relief even when the county is collecting more money overall.

County levy documents shared with the post show Pike County’s total levy at $4,471,578 for 2026, up from $4,092,578 in 2025, $3,917,789 in 2024, $3,799,777 in 2023 and $3,681,550 in 2022.

The figures presented by Lanhum show the levy at approximately $3.14 million in 2019, meaning the total levy has increased by about $1.33 million, or 42.3 percent, between 2019 and 2026.

At the same time, Pike County’s equalized assessed valuation has also climbed substantially. The county document lists EAV at roughly $325.7 million in 2022, increasing to nearly $421 million in 2026. Because the property-tax rate is applied to assessed property value, a larger tax base can produce more revenue even when the tax rate itself moves lower.

That is the distinction Lanhum says taxpayers should keep in mind. His argument is that elected officials should discuss the levy and the tax rate together rather than pointing only to a lower rate when residents may still be seeing higher tax bills.

The 2026 county levy includes approximately $1.56 million for the General Fund, $660,000 for IMRF, $532,000 for Social Security, $495,500 for liability insurance and additional levies for highways, roads and bridges, public health, mental health and other county funds.

A lower county tax rate does not automatically mean every property owner will pay less. Individual bills can also be affected by changes in assessed valuation and by levies from other taxing districts, including school districts, municipalities, townships and other local taxing bodies.

Lanhum says he expects to have more to say after his tax-appeal process moves further along. His comments also bring the issue of county taxation into the Pike County Board campaign as voters consider how much local government should collect and how those tax figures are presented to the public.