Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Chairman Lovette’s recent letter (May 7, 2026) regarding taxes and balanced growth. After reading it several times, it is difficult not to see this as the first message preparing Liberty County taxpayers for yet another tax hike as spending continues to increase.
I agree with Chairman Lovette’s opening point regarding balanced growth. In January 2020, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 22,870 employed persons in Liberty County. In January 2026, the Bureau reported 22,671 employed persons — a net loss of 199 employed residents over six years.
Growth?
The United Way reported in an article published in this paper on September 4, 2025, that the financial threshold for a family of four in Liberty County is $78,804 — almost $20,000 more than the county’s median household income of $59,000. For a family of four to thrive in Liberty County, they require a stability budget of $121,000, more than twice the county’s median income.
The number of people living below the threshold level in Liberty County increased by 9% last year, while at the state level it dropped by 3%. Is this economic growth?
The overall poverty rate for Liberty County remains stagnant at approximately 15%, while Effingham County’s rate is 6.8% — less than half that of Liberty County.
Effingham’s median household income is almost 50% higher than Liberty County’s. Liberty County is also more than $12,000 below the state median household income.
Economic growth?
This lower median income has less to do with the age of the workforce and more to do with the businesses the county attracts. The county has demonstrated an inability to attract industrial and manufacturing firms with growth potential and higher wages. Instead, the county attracts businesses that are largely service-oriented, offering lower-paying positions with little expectation for growth or expansion. Many of these businesses are positioned along the county’s main traffic corridors and produce additional tax revenue through our 9% sales tax.
The county budget has grown by more than 100% since 2020 (from $32 million) and will approach $70 million this year. The Chairman focuses on infrastructure and essential services — fair enough.
However, I would argue that the county needs to live within its means. For example, I will not argue that Liberty County needed a fire station on Highway 84; however, we did not need that fire station. I understand it was built with special tax revenue, but where is the ongoing operations and maintenance funding now required going to come from?
Additionally, this special tax revenue is not money from heaven; it is part of the new 9% sales tax paid by Liberty County residents.
The same discussion can be applied to the Justice Center, the Board of Education Building, and soon, the new Health Department building.
Fellow voters, this is a pattern of behavior involving your tax dollars. If you have never visited the Justice Center or the Board of Education building, you need to see how your tax dollars are being spent.
More than one-third of Chairman Lovette’s article addresses Fort Stewart and related veterans’ issues. None of this will change in the future. There should be a level of gratitude for the economic impact of our retirees and veterans, rather than handwringing over an inability to fully tax them. County leadership needs to adapt to its environment, much like every family sitting at the kitchen table discussing the family budget and balancing the checkbook.
Chairman Lovette mentions sustainability. I ask you, as a resident and taxpayer, whether the current glide path of taxing and spending in this county is sustainable. Will you be able to keep your home and maintain your standard of living if this continues?
Six of the seven county board members have served on the board for more than 15 years; they personally own this record. Instead of being consumed with where the next county tax dollar is coming from, we need a board that spends time addressing the issues and burdens facing Liberty County residents and taxpayers — a board that understands fiscal restraint and manages a budget the same way taxpayers do when they sit at the kitchen table.
When county leadership focuses on growth, it is the growth of county structure and county government — not your growth and prosperity. We, the taxpayers, have become merely a means to an end, resulting in ever-increasing annual tax bills. We continue to rank No. 2 and No. 19 out of 159 counties in Georgia for property taxes, as well as within the top third nationwide.
Change is needed!
Finally, I welcome any opportunity for a public discussion on these topics rather than a letter- writing campaign.
Glenn Burch