Village of Godfrey Board of Trustees
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GODFREY – After much discussion and debate, Godfrey officials voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, to pass a lower tax levy than last year, leading to slight savings for homeowners at the cost of village tax revenue.
Village Board members were originally set to approve a “flat” tax levy, marking neither an increase or decrease over last year’s levy.
Trustee Mike Fisher proposed reducing the levy by 0.5% to lower taxes for homeowners, which was ultimately approved by a 5-1 vote. Trustee Rick Lauschke cast the sole vote against lowering the tax levy.
The village’s current 1.5% levy amounts to $476,900 in taxes collected; under the newly approved 1% rate, the village would only collect $317,933.33 in taxes. Lauschke cautioned against lowering the levy by a third, as it would have a minimal impact on property tax bills at the cost of critical tax revenue for the village.
“We’re nothing on the tax bill. You’ve got schools, the county, the fire department, and the library – that’s huge,” Lauschke said. “If we take more money out of there, we’re taking money away from our sales tax increase that we just did … I would like to do it, but we’ve got to be careful what we’re doing here.”
Trustee Sarah Woodman said having lower property taxes may be a major factor for prospective homebuyers.
“My grandkids that are house-shopping – that, to them, I’m sure is something they look at,” Woodman said. “Taxes [are] a big deal … I think it might make an impact on residents and hopefully residents to be.”
Mayor Mike McCormick said one of the village’s newest residents recently told him that they moved to Godfrey specifically because of its safety and low taxes. Trustee Craig Lombardi said homeowners would appreciate the modest tax savings and that the decrease “is not going to hurt us that much” from a tax revenue standpoint.
A full recording of the Dec. 16, 2025 Godfrey Village Board meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
