Property tax bills should be coming to mailboxes soon, and those property owners who want to pay their taxes can do so online, Tax Commissioner Jamie Sharp said.

There are approximately 28,000 parcels in the county, and of a tax sale held in December, only one property went to sale, Sharp said. Parcels that were put up for a tax sale went as far back on the delinquent taxes as 2017, but nearly every owner paid the back taxes. That put the county at a 97% collection rate for its 2025 taxes, Sharp added.

Those late on property taxes get a 30-day notice letter and then a 60-day notice letter before the property is listed in the legals.

It takes about five months for that process to go through,” he said.

County chief financial officer Samantha Richardson said she expects the county’s revenues to rise significantly in January with the first payments of property taxes coming in. The county currently has 3.7 months of operating expenditures in its unreserved, undesignated fund balance, an increase of October 2024’s balance of 2.9 months.

“It reflects a stronger financial position,” she said.

Liberty County Commission Chairman Donald Lovette said the county tries to be conservative with its millage and its budget.

“We had some unexpected expenditures this past year,” Lovette said. “We had some work on drainage we did not expect to have to do. When we had those drainage problems, our citizens did not mind calling us. That fund balance helps us do those kinds of things.”

Lovette said the fund balance — which is created to carry the county’s operations through times when property tax collections are typically low — also has help to replace large and expensive air conditioning units at county buildings.

The county also collected $1.15 million in special local option sales tax proceeds for October, and the total collections since the start of SPLOST VII are nearly $34.3 million. The county’s last month for transportation special local option sales tax collections — before voters voted to renew the tax — brought in $1.08 million. October was the last full month of collections under the previous TSPLOST, Richardson said, though less than $15,000 in collections trickled into November.

The first TSPLOST has brought in $59.8 million to date, and $28.3 million has been spent so far, Richardson said.

With proceeds of the initial TSPLOST, a traffic signal at Highway 84 and Flemington Village Boulevard was put into operation, as was a signal on Veterans Parkway between Lowe’s and Walmart. TSPLOST proceeds also are being put to use for the Hinesville bypass, among other projects.

TSPLOST collections will resume in April.