Liberty County school board members won’t be raising property taxes this year — and hundreds of employees are about to get something extra just in time for Christmas.
The school board has adopted its millage rate for 2026, setting it at the rollback rate of 14.114 after getting its tax digest. Last year’s rate was 14.441. It was as high as 16.358 in 2020.
Rolling back the millage to its rollback rate — that rate which when applied to the digest does not result in a property tax increase — will allow the schools to collect a sufficient amount of property taxes for its fiscal year 2026 budget, chief financial officer Stephanie Clark told board members.
The school board has budgeted $157.5 million in expenditures, with almost $154.5 million expected in revenues. Board members are making up the difference in fund balance, rather than increasing property taxes.
If tax collections come in at 100%, the system will take in more than it budgeted in property taxes and could offset the amount of fund balance used, Clark added. The school system budgeted receiving $27.7 million in property taxes. At a 100% collection rate, it would take in $29.1 million in property taxes, and at a 97% collection rate, it will receive more than $28.2 million in property taxes.
The real and personal property digest for 2025 is at $2.8 billion, a 74.4% increase from the $1.6 billion in 2020.
All full-time employees, those at 49%, substitutes who have worked at least 10 days and RESSLA (Retired Educators Supporting Student Learning Achievement) personnel will be receiving a retention incentive payment of $750, which is expected to be distributed Friday.
Under the school system’s guidelines, eligible employees must be active employed as of October 31 and any employee who resigns, retires or is terminated before the end of their contract or end of the calendar year will be required to repay the incentive.
Each check will be $750 net, meaning the gross amount could be higher.
Board Chair Verdell Jones said she remembers the days when the system handed out $50 gift cards as an incentive.
“We have come a long way,” she said. “And I have run into employees who have already said, ‘thank you.’” School board members had asked about the number of days substitutes had to work to be eligible, and Superintendent Brenda Frazier recommended making those who had worked at least 10 days to be eligible. As of October 31, 126 subs had worked 10 or more days, while 88 had put in at least 20 days and 78 subs had worked at least 25 days.
The school system originally slated the incentive program to cost $1.24 million, but adding substitutes who had worked at least 10 days brought the figure from $1.92 million to $1.98 million total.