Liberty County doesn’t have a problem with spending, County Administrator Joseph Mosley said last week.

“We spend on the problems,” he said. “We spend our money to address the problems.”

Mosley and other county officials spoke to the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce’s Progress Through People luncheon on the state of the county. For Mosley, it was his first such address since being elevated to county administrator in March.

County commissioners recently passed their fiscal year 2026 budget, a $65.6 million spending plan.

Over the years, the county’s general fund budget has grown in the last five years, going from $35.5 million in FY21 to this fiscal year’s budget, which went into effect July 1.

County chief financial officer Samantha Richardson pointed out the county also has taken on several services that have added to the budget, such as going from a mostly volunteer fire department to a full-time, paid roster and taking over the EMS operations from Liberty Regional Medical Center.

Public safety accounts for 43% of the county’s general fund budget spending.

“We do not spend without purpose,” she said. “Many of these essential services did not exist 10 years ago. The county has put a lot of money in our emergency response.”

Taking over EMS’ operations also has led to improved response time and service reliability, Richardson added. EMS had 8,962 calls for service last year, and the fire department responded to 1,878 calls.

A new EMS administration and training facility, a 5,800 square foot building at a cost of $2.8 million, is expected to be finished in early 2026. Proceeds from the special purpose local option sales tax are being used in its construction.

Earlier this year, the county public works department and mosquito control moved into a new 17,279 square foot building, built at a cost of $6.4 million and funded through the SPLOST.

The new building is expected to allow public works to do its job better and keep its equipment out of the elements and operational. The county owns or maintains 182 miles of roads and scrapes about 100 miles of dirt road three to four times a month.

“We want to make sure we have good facilities,” Mosley said. “One of the main complaints we receive as a rural county is roads.”

The county also is adding to and improving its current park facilities. While pickleball courts at Liberty Independent Troop Park are expected to be ready soon, the county also is renovating the Jones Creek Park, which has been renamed the Susie King Taylor Park.

New playground equipment is being installed, and there also will be eco and nature walking trails, along with a new fishing pier. The park with an antebellum- themed pavilion and a statue to honor Taylor, who escaped from slavery near the park’s location and became the only Black woman to have a memoir of the Civil War published.

Also on the way is a new fishing pier at Cattle Hammock on Colonel’s Island. Environmental permits for the project have to be secured, Mosley said.

Under construction currently is a new health department building, which replace a facility built in 1980. The new health department building, which will be 44,000 square feet, 33% larger than the current building, will allow the county to offer such services as breast and cervical cancer testing, immunizations, testing for HIV and tuberculosis and environmental health, among others.

The county’s summer food program is ongoing and runs through July 31. Since its start June 2, it has provided over 20,000 meals this summer, Mosley pointed out.

“That’s kids being fed during the summer,” he said.

The county also has in the works new water rates, an impact fee ordinance, an update of minority and women business owned policies, county personnel policies and a refresh of the county website to make it more user friendly, Mosley said.

Liberty County also is in need of a new jail, Chief Deputy Al Hagan said. The current jail is over 30 years old and conditions are such that jail staff wanting to make coffee during a break do so next to a toilet.

“That’s not good,” Hagan said.

Hagan also cited recent grand jury presentments on the jail that have called its condition into question, and Sheriff Will Bowman commissioned a study from the Georgia Sheriffs Association, which concluded a new jail was needed. Their findings, Hagan said, were to bulldoze the current jail.

There also isn’t space in the current jail to do any kind of rehabilitation programs, Chief Hagan added.

“I’d like to return them to the street better than they came to us and not sit there all day and learn more criminal activity to take back out to the street,” he said.

A new jail could cost more than $90 million and if one is built, one way to do it is through a bond that provides the money up front and is repaid through SPLOST proceeds.

County officials expect the tax digest to be completed late this month or early next month, and property assessments have been mailed out. Property owners have 45 days to file an appeal of their value with the assessors’ office, Chief Appraiser Keith Payne said, and they should let the assessors know of any buildings damaged or destroyed in last year’s storms.

Assessment notices used to have an estimated tax burden, but a change in state law has taken that out. Payne said his office is responsible for setting property values.

“We do not collect money or set the millage rates,” he said.

County commission Chairman Donald Lovette also used the event to celebrate the groundbreaking for the now underway phase 1 of the Hinesville bypass. Public support of SPLOST and TSPLOST, the transportation special purpose local option sales tax, was vital in getting phase 1 started, Lovette said.

Voters failed to renew TSPLOST last year, as it fell by 62 votes out of 21,980 cast. Lovette and other county officials urged voters to renew TSPLOST, which will be on the ballot this fall, and FLOST, a floating local option sales tax.

The FLOST, if passed, can be used only to offset property taxes. The money it raised will be used to reduce the millage rate by an amount needed to raise the same amount. For example, if the FLOST raised $1 million, the millage would be reduced by the amount needed to generate $1 million in property taxes.

The county is continuing to grow, Lovette pointed out. Just in the county alone, there were 807 building permits issued last year and nearly 6,500 building inspections completed. Lovette also indicated that the projects on tap for the I-95/ Highway 84 interchange in Midway will be a boon for the county and the city with the amount of taxes expected to be generated, calling it a “gamechanger” for the county.

“It’s on the way, y’all, it’s on the way,” he said.

The county also must continue to plan for new business, Lovette said, and strengthen and protect the formula that has made “this a community of choice in coastal Georgia.”

“Vision plus collaboration minus ego equals success,” he said.