Liberty County commissioners are slicing their part of upcoming property tax bills.
Commissioners will trim .5 mills off the county’s portion of the millage rate, now that the digest is in hand.
Because the digest grew — and the millage rate was not cut back to a level where the taxes levied would be the same as the previous year — the county had to advertise the millage rate reduction as a tax increase.
“It does not mean every homeowner is going to have a tax increase,” county chief financial officer Samantha Richardson told commissioners. “Even if you decrease millage rate but don’t hit rollback rate, you have to advertise a tax increase.”
The county has to assess a different millage rate for the unincorporated areas and the other cities than it does for Hinesville, since the city offers some of the same services — such as fire and police — as the county provides.
The county portion of the millage rate for Hinesville residents will be 18.477 and it will be 20.957 for the unincorporated areas and other municipalities.
The county millage rate for Hinesville was 18.51 last year. In computing Hinesville’s portion of the county millage rate, the county figured Hinesville’s services are $9.6 million, or about 2.48 mills.
In applying the basic homestead exemption, a property owner of a home in the unincorporated portion of the county worth $150,000 will have the county portion of their property tax bill go from $1,226.12 to $1,194.63. For a home assessed at $175,000, the county’s part of the property tax bill goes from $1,437.52 to $1,400.60. Richardson added that only illustrates the county’s portion of the millage and does not include a total picture of the tax, which also will have the school board, hospital authority and development authority millage rates.
The overall county digest came in a $2.62 billion, and the net digest, after exemptions, was $1.97 billion. That represented an 8.32% increase from the 2023 digest.
In 2020, the gross digest was $1.63 billion and the net digest was $1.33 billion, meaning the gross digest has grown by nearly $982 million in the last five years, or 60.1%.
Even as the digest has grown, so have the exemptions, Richardson said, going from a total of $557 million to $652 million.
“This growth in exemptions exceeds the growth in the digest,” sThe three largest exemptions — freeport, disabled veteran and Kemp-Deloach-Williams — account for 80% of the total exemptions. The school board and the city, Richardson said, do not have the same kind of exemption mandates.
The general fund budget for the county is $62.4 million, an increase of $4.4 million, or 7.65%. The county general fund budget in fiscal year 2020 was $34.5 million. The general fund budget had double digit percentage jumps in FY23 and FY24.
Public safety accounts for 48% of the budget, or about $29.8 million.
The county also is looking to replenish its undesignated, unreserved fund balance. Governments target having between three and seven months of operational reserves handy, especially during those times when property tax collections are slow.
“We are able to put some into our fund balance to take care of things when they arise,” Chairman Donald Lovette said.
The county was running at about 3.2 months of reserves last year, County Administrator Joey Brown said. Restoring the operational reserves allows the county to have appropriate cash flow between periods of property tax receipts.he said.