CITY OF BEARDSTOWN

What CITY OF BEARDSTOWN does

The City of Beardstown is a municipal government entity incorporated in 1896 (settled 1819 by Thomas Beard along the Illinois River), serving approximately 8,000 residents in Cass County, West Central Illinois. It delivers the full statutory menu of municipal services — police protection (Beardstown Police Department under Chief Martin Coad, with 24-hour patrol, K-9, and school resource officer units), fire and emergency medical services (Fire Chief Brandon Hager, including bulk water sales), public works (Director Dustin Looker: streets, water treatment and distribution, sanitary sewer, stormwater), a public library (Director Trisha Scott), a park district (Director Deion Summers), a city cemetery (Sexton Brian Icenogle), planning and zoning (Administrator Harry Juarez), and vital records (City Clerk Katie Vitale). Governance is by an elected Mayor (Tim Harris), Treasurer (Karen Whitlow), Clerk, and eight Alderpersons across four wards, all serving four-year terms.

Its core technology layer is a thin SaaS stack rather than a proprietary platform: Cloudpermit for digital building permits and citizen issue reporting, Payment Service Network for online water-bill payment, Municode for the searchable municipal code repository, OverDrive for library ebook lending, and Find A Grave for cemetery records lookup. The City website (cityofbeardstown.org) acts as the principal digital portal, supplemented by the Beardstown Connect outreach program, local newspaper (Cass County Star Gazette), WRMS Radio, and social media. Historic assets include the Beardstown Courthouse and Old Lincoln Museum — the only still-active courtroom where Lincoln practiced, part of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Trail.

Revenue is sourced from locally administered taxes (hotel/motel 3%, franchise cable 3%, simplified telecommunications 5%, sales tax 8.25% passed through by the State), transaction and unit fees (vital record copies, bulk water at $0.50/100 gallons, library services), fines (yard-waste violations, library overdue fines), and intergovernmental property-tax allocations routed via Cass County. The City also operates economic-development instruments — TIF districts, Enterprise Zones, and an EDA Revolving Loan Fund — to attract business investment. No financial figures are publicly disclosed online; a Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for FY May 2025–April 2026 was on file from July 11, 2025.

Name

CITY OF BEARDSTOWN

Legal name

City of Beardstown

Website

https://cityofbeardstown.org

Company type

Public

Founded year

1896

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The City of Beardstown is the municipal government of Beardstown, Illinois, serving approximately 8,000 residents with police, fire/EMS, public works, water/sewer, library, parks, cemetery, planning/zoning, and vital-records services funded by local taxes, fees, and intergovernmental transfers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Government Administration

NAICS

Fire Protection (922160), Police Protection (922120), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219), Cemeteries and Crematories (81222), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251)

SIC

Sanitary Services (4950)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAIACAA

Mayor/City Manager & General Administration

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPAIACAB

City Clerk/Records, Elections & Civic Engagement

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPAIACAF

Public Works & Municipal Infrastructure (Streets, Stormwater, Facilities)

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPAIACAI

Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPAIACAK

Local Public Health & Human Services Administration

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPAIACAJ

Housing & Neighborhood Services (Local Housing Programs)

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Local/Municipal Government Administration

Keywords

• Municipal government services
• Public safety services
• Public works infrastructure
• Community recreation services
• Vital records administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Beardstown

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The City of Beardstown provides municipal government services to approximately 8,000 residents of Beardstown, Illinois, including public safety (fire, ambulance, police), public works (streets, water treatment and distribution, sanitary sewer, stormwater), recreational facilities (parks, pool, sports complex, trails), library services, cemetery management, vital records (birth and death certificates), permitting and code enforcement via Cloudpermit, planning and zoning, marina and airport oversight, and administrative services through City Hall and cityofbeardstown.org. Revenue is generated through local taxes and transactional fees.

Product overview

The City of Beardstown operates a municipal government website that serves as the primary digital portal for city services. The platform provides access to core government functions including the Mayor's Office, City Clerk services (birth/death certificates, citations, records), Fire and Ambulance Services, Police Department, Public Works, Library Services, and Park District Facilities. The website also offers digital permitting through Cloudpermit, council meeting archives, historic sites like the Old Lincoln Courtroom, and various permit application forms. The offering is a single unified portal with multiple department-specific pages and service modules rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• City Government Services Portal Official municipal website at cityofbeardstown.org providing access to city government services, departments, council meetings, forms, permits, and community information for residents and businesses of Beardstown, Illinois.
• City Clerk Services Record-keeping services for Beardstown residents including birth and death certificates (first certified copy $5.00 and $9.00 respectively), city citations, public records requests, solicitation permits, and notary public services.
• Fire and Ambulance Services Fire, rescue, and emergency medical services for Beardstown available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including bulk water tank sales ($0.50 per 100 gallons), hydrant system maintenance, and fire safety education programs.
• Police Department Services Law enforcement services for Beardstown including patrol, K-9 units, school resource officer coverage, and public information via the Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry.
• Public Works Services Infrastructure management for Beardstown including street maintenance, water treatment and distribution, sanitary sewer, stormwater drainage systems, and facility maintenance.
• Library Services Public library services at the Beardstown Houston Memorial Public Library including books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, internet access, meeting room reservations, ebook lending via OverDrive/Alliance Digital Media Library, and fax services, with non-resident library cards priced at $25/6 months or $50/year.
• Park District Facilities Recreational facilities operated by the Beardstown Park District including community parks, swimming pool, sports complex, tennis courts, disk golf, walking trails, and community center programs.
• Council Meeting Minutes and Agendas Digital archive of Beardstown City Council meeting agendas and minutes from 2021 to 2026, made available for public inspection online.
• Old Lincoln Courtroom and Museum Historic site on the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Trail in the Beardstown Courthouse, featuring the courtroom where Abraham Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong in the famous Almanac Trial and housing a Lincoln Museum on the second floor.
• Permit and Form Applications Digital forms for Beardstown building permits, demolition permits, water services, zoning changes, liquor licenses, employment applications, and FOIA requests, with building permits administered through the Cloudpermit platform.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Illinois Municipal League: Statewide association representing Illinois municipalities, providing training, advocacy, and shared services. A key ecosystem participant for Beardstown on policy, grant access, and inter-municipal best practice sharing.
• Municode (by CivicPlus): Vendor of the digital municipal code repository used by Beardstown. Ecosystem participant enabling online transparency and code access for residents.
• Cloudpermit: Vendor of the permitting and code enforcement platform Beardstown uses. Ecosystem participant rather than peer, but central to understanding the city's digital service stack.

Direct peers

• City of Rushville, Illinois: Schuyler County seat in west-central Illinois. Similar small rural Midwestern city offering the same municipal functions (police, fire, public works, water, library, parks) to a comparable population.
• City of Carthage, Illinois: Hancock County seat in west-central Illinois of similar size and rural character. Operates the same municipal service portfolio and faces analogous infrastructure, demographic, and fiscal challenges.
• City of Havana, Illinois: Mason County seat directly on the Illinois River, geographically adjacent to Beardstown. Comparable river-town service portfolio and similar small population base; provides a benchmark for shared Illinois River regional dynamics.
• City of Macomb, Illinois: McDonough County seat in west-central Illinois, home to Western Illinois University. Provides an analogous municipal service portfolio and shares the same regional economy, regulatory environment (EPA water mandates, Illinois state codes), and small-city governance structure as Beardstown.
• City of Jacksonville, Illinois: Morgan County seat in west-central Illinois of comparable size and rural Midwestern character. Provides the same core municipal services (police, fire, public works, water/sewer, library, parks, planning/zoning) to a similar small-city population, making it the closest functional peer.

Broad incumbents

• City of Springfield, Illinois: Illinois state capital and regional anchor for central Illinois. Operates all the same municipal functions at scale and sets practical reference points for service delivery, technology adoption, and intergovernmental funding pathways relevant to Beardstown.
• Cass County Government, Illinois: The county government encompassing Beardstown. Operates broader jurisdiction services (property tax assessment, county-wide public safety, court system) that overlap with city services, and shares the same resident and business base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/159082564111570
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/city-of-beardstown

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CITY OF BEARDSTOWN