As Liberty County property owners receive their tax bills — and complaints about the county’s tax rate also mount — leaders say the county isn’t alone and also offered advice to property owners on their tax bills.
Liberty County Commission Chairman Donald Lovette urged property owners to take a close look at their property assessments when those are issued in spring and to see what exemptions for which they may be eligible.
“Don’t wait until the bill goes out,” he said. “Don’t wait until tax time.”
Lovette also took issue with the sentiment that voters had been “fooled” into renewing the transportation special local option sales tax, or TSPLOST, and FLOST, the floating local option sales tax. The one-cent sales tax for TSPLOST will go into effect in April and FLOST’s impact has to wait on that tax to be collected for a year before its potential savings can be passed on to property owners.
Property owners likely will start seeing relief from property tax through FLOST in 2027. The revenue raised through FLOST will be applied to the millage rate, meaning the millage will be rolled back by the amount of mills needed to raise the same amount of money as FLOST takes in.
“There are no tricks in the game,” he said. “Don’t let anyone fool you that this is not a good use of your funds.”
Lovette also said the renewed TSPLOST enables the county to improve roads in subdivisions where roads had not been built to county standards.
“Without the TSPLOST, we would not be able to do the work we are going to do in The Trails,” he said. “Those pennies add up and there are a lot of projects we need to do. When I’m riding around, I can’t help but notice all the increased traffic we have here and not just on some days but every day. We are a growing community.”
The community’s commercial sector is growing and Lovette pointed to more growth on the way.
“They are clearing land for Aldi’s and an Olive Garden. Publix has opened in Flemington,” he said.
Lovette also has acknowledged that while government leaders don’t recruit car washes to locate in the community but they are welcome.
“Commercial growth has not stopped in Liberty County,” he said, “and neither has residential. It is here. When people ask if we need another car wash or another tire repair shop, we’ll take them all. It helps to bring revenue in and it helps to offset what we would need from property taxes.”
The TSPLOST that ended brought in $59.8 million and to date, more than $28 million has been spent on road and drainage projects. The TSPLOST that goes into effect this year is projected to bring in more than $87 million to pay road, transportation and drainage projects.
“It costs a lot to pave a road,” Commissioner Connie Thrift said.
Infrastructure, such as roads, water and sewer, Lovette added, is a concern for the county.
“We have to be proactive,” he said. “We have an obligation to the residents put the infrastructure in place to help this community. Please pardon our progress as we move on. We are a blessed community. A lot of communities would trade places with us. We look forward to make it even better in the future.”
The county’s portion of the overall millage rate was 16.3 in 2020 before rising to 21.14 in 2023. For this year, the millage was set at 20.9, a slight dip from its 2024 rate of 20.957. Lovette has pointed to rising property taxes in nearby counties. The Liberty County Development Authority has partnered with Georgia Tech to look at the county’s tax structure and those of neighboring counties.
“There are many things on the drawing board,” Lovette said, “so stay tuned and stay engaged.”