Liberty County commissioners have approved their set of millage rates, and tax bills for county property owners could be coming soon.
Commissioners approved their millage rates for the unincorporated portions of the county, the portions of the county that are incorporated but don’t levy a millage and separate millages for the cities of Hinesville, Flemington and Walthourville.
Commissioners approved a $65.7 million budget back in June. By state law, the county’s budget — and its fiscal year begins July 1 — has to be approved prior to the start of the fiscal calendar.
The county is expecting to bring in nearly $35.5 million in property taxes for its operations, meaning property taxes will account for 54% of its anticipated revenue. County commission Chairman Donald Lovette said commissioners have been stringent on spending requests from the county’s department heads.
“There has been a lot of red pen applied to what these department heads have asked for,” he said. “Sometimes it’s making tough decisions. Sometimes it’s putting off hiring until January.”
The county’s millage rates are being trimmed from last year, going from 20.957 to 20.9 in the unincorporated areas and other municipalities and from 18.477 to 18.314 for Hinesville residents. The rates are different as the county can’t tax city residents for services it gets from their municipality.
County chief financial officer Samantha Richardson said the growth in the digest was strong enough to support the budget without a millage increase. However, some property owners may get a bigger tax bill because of a higher value of their property, she said.
Residents in the unincorporated portions of the county will have a millage rate of 20.3 assessed on their property from the county itself. The total tax bill — including the schools, hospital authority and development authority — is 40.256. The school system’s millage rate was set at 14.114 by its board. The hospital authority rolled back its millage to 3.789 and the development authority’s millage rate is set at 2 by the state constitution.
The millage rates for both Walthourville and Flemington will be 20.353, giving those residents overall millage rates of 40.256 before the respective cities’ millages are added.
Hinesville residents will face a county tax burden of 18.314. Along with the city’s rate of 9.98 — and the rates from the schools, hospital and development authority — the total millage rate is 48.197. Hinesville’s county millage rate is lower because residents cannot be taxed for duplicated services, such as fire protection and police.
County residents in other incorporated areas of the county will have a millage rate of 20.9, and an overall rate of 40.803.
Economic burden
While the millage rate is a concern, one resident said the bigger issue for the county is its spending. Glenn Burch, a former 3rd Infantry Division chief of staff, pointed out the county’s budget has grown by nearly 75% in the last five years.
He also noted that according to the United Way of the Coastal Empire’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) data shows 54% of the county’s population is struggling to meet basic needs. Burch told commissioners that the county’s median household income is less than $60,000 a year, and the burden of property taxes may crush some residents.
“When is it enough?” he said. “We’re not going to tax our way into prosperity not when the median household income is $12,000 below the state average.”
The county’s taxes are 38.6% higher than the state average, Burch added, and in the top 35% in the nation.
“I don’t see how the taxpayer can sustain that,” Burch told commissioners.
The county’s had grown by at least 9% for four straight years and by double digit percentages in three of those. Commissioners noted this year’s budget had grown by only 5% over the previous year’s, and the $3.2 million difference from last fiscal year is the smallest since the budget grew by $3.15 million in 2021.
“As our population and service demands grow, our budget reflects growth as well,” Richardson said.
Commissioners said the county has taken on expensive operations, such as the emergency medical service from Liberty Regional Medical Center, and has expanded its fire services. The county also has put in raises and cost-of-living adjustments in an effort to retain its staff.
Exemptions and lack of taxable land
The county’s overall digest, which is now valued at more than $2 billion, is affected by the number of exemptions. The value in the exemptions grew 13% over the last year, Richardson said, going from $652 million to almost $734 million for 2025. The top three exemptions — freeport, disabled veteran and the Kemp-Deloach-Williams Act — account for 78% of the exemptions.
Of those three, the freeport exemption, at $263 million, is the largest, but grew only marginally over the last year. The disabled veterans exemption grew by 24%, going from $199 million to almost $247 million.
“Exemptions have been steadily rising over the last 10 years,” Richardson said. “This continued growth in exemptions reduces our overall tax base and affects the millage rate that’s needed to support the county’s operating services.”
Richardson said one of the reasons Liberty County has such a high millage rate, compared to other counties, is the amount of land Fort Stewart takes up. The base accounts for 31% of the land in the county, and the county is prohibited from levying property taxes on it.
“We are proud of that partnership. But from a property tax standpoint, it creates a structural challenge,” she said. Also, a large portion of the county is marshland, which cannot be built upon, and that also limits the amount of taxable land, Richardson said.
“Our service responsibilities continue to grow,” she said. “But the taxable land base available to support those services is dramatically smaller than other counties.”
Burch questioned the impact of the prohibition on taxing Fort Stewart’s land the county faces. He also questioned the impact the property tax exemptions disabled veterans receive has on the county’s overall finances.
“How much do they cost you? How much money is the county spending on Fort Stewart. It’s just a chunk of land you can’t tax,” he said. “They’re not costing you anything. In fact, they’re contributing billions to the local economy, as are those disabled veterans.”
Liberty County also has most of its burden on residential property owners, and for every tax dollar generated by a home, the county’s cost for services for that home is $1.20. But for commercial property, that cost is only 60 cents.
“Residential growth by itself does not pay for itself,” Richardson said. “There is a benefit for having the commercial and industry coming to Liberty County.”
“The catch-22 is commercial follows residential,” Lovette added.
Richardson and Lovette both championed the passing of FLOST, the floating local option sales tax. It will go into effect in 2027 and the money raised by that one cent tax will be used to offset the millage rate levied on all property owners.
“This provides real and measurable tax relief to homeowners,” Richardson said.
Commissioners opted not to use any of the county’s fund balance — its undesignated reserve that exists to carry county operations in times when there might not be any revenue coming in for months — for the fiscal year. The county has about four months of fund balance on hand, and its operations cost between $5.5-$6 million a month.
The expected revenue from the digest allows the county to add more than $600,000 to its fund balance.
The Liberty County Development Authority has partnered with Georgia Tech and its Center for Economic Development Research to look at the county’s costs of services. Those results are expected to ready at the beginning of 2026.