Where are our tax bills?
by timeontarget
Last comment by Sheran 1 day, 18 hours ago.
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Why are we always late?
The main reason is our school board waits until the last minute to set their millage so that they can be certain that ours is among the top 15% of the 159 counties so that we qualify for Federal Impact Aid to help us supply schools for military dependents.
To get those funds our school board must impose an excessively high property tax on Liberty County property owners. There is no incentive to operate our school system as efficiently as possible.
In fact the opposite is the case.
Military auto owners purchase a Liberty County car tag for $20 whether it is a one hundred thousand dollar vehicle or a two thousand dollar clunker. We the locals pay much more for similar vehicles.
Lowes of Hinesville prices their merchandise at a rate of ten percent above other stores of theirs in non military towns and then give a 10% military discount while we civilians pay an excessive amount. Harris Ace Hardware is usually cheaper than Lowes for their merchandise.
I am sure there are a number of other things that cost us locals more to live here than would be the case if Fort Stewart was not here.
We are told that Fort Stewart benefits us all but woefully I have to disagree with that.
A breakfast in Screven Ga. recently cost me just over five dollars for the same thing that averages about nine dollars here in Liberty County. Oh and in Screven it was not a chain store eatery it was one that has been there every time I have ever passed through.
I want to be as generous to my wife for Christmas as I can but I wish I knew what my property tax burden for this year is before I select a gift. I believe we have until Feb 15th maybe to pay our property tax without the penalty and the penalty is one or two percent and then for each month afterwards an additional one per cent is added.
You work and strive all of your life to pay off your home and property and then we are stuck with the equivalent of a nominal house payment in the form of tax notice for the rest of our lives.
I never worked in government employment by choice. I don't enjoy a generous pension but I am proud to be self sustaining. However my resources are limited and if I lived in Screven I would live much higher on the hog as the saying goes.
Now to my message.
Our local elected officials in county, city and school board all have become addicted to their heroin of tax revenue which they extract from us at every possible means and then create things such as the "Justice Center" which is in fact a monument to injustice for old time property owners. I've been told that we the property owners of Liberty County are obligated on the Justice Center for about twenty six million give or take dollars and I suspect we are still in debt for the elaborate city hall as well as the beautiful Development Authority building.
If you own property here you are going to pay these bills off if you live long enough and don't lose your real estate.
Our chief administrators in all of our local governments are generously compensated in the $100,000 range with many highly paid underlings receiving generous salaries and benefits.
Our Administrators were obligated ethically to steer our inept elected officials away from straddling us with these debts.
Did they do it? No they did not.
Oh and the more new facilities that we build the more employees must be hired to operate such facilities. The more people a supervisor oversees the more salary he receives.
There is no incentive for efficiency, in fact the opposite is true.
And many public service jobs are non essential. I'd bet one out of ten could be completely done without and likely with good management and oversight we could improve on that even.
However there is no incentive to operate efficiently.
Oversight is supposed to be done by our Mayor and Council, Commissioners and Commission Chairman and School Board members and their Chairman. They are supposed to operate in the best interest of property owners first and residents second.
Those who don't should have opposition next time there term is up.
Most of our local politicians think way too much of themselves and just go along with whatever the employees and administrators advise.
They enjoy doing things for their constituents and in this county most of their constituents are tenants and many of them are tenants to slum lords who pay far too little taxes on mobile home parks jammed full of humanity and misery that must be served by the taxpayer's employees and administrators.
We are a community of infantry soldiers and camp followers many of which survive on welfare of one form or another. We have a substantial number of units of public assistance residents. Think Tree Properties and such.
We are a community of consumers and not much production. We are in the perfect situation for misguided public officials to impose local option sales taxes on us and then use the proceeds of such taxes to put us in debt if we own property.
Last year the voters quietly rejected the SPLOST because they have had their fill of seeing our property taxes steadily increased.
I believe our newly elected Mayor thinks that SPLOST is a good thing. I think we can survive without it and suck it up by paying the current tax rate but please lets not build anything more for us to support.
I'd like to suggest that every single Liberty County property or homeowner make a new year's resolution to not vote for any candidate who advocates another round of SPLOST.
Merry Christmas To all and especially the natives.
Latest Activity: Dec 17, 2015 at 2:36 PM
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Sheran commented on Thursday, Dec 17, 2015 at 18:33 PM
I'm not sure why Liberty county taxes are late but Long county
taxes are late this year also. My guess it has something to do
statewide.
Sheran commented on Thursday, Dec 17, 2015 at 19:17 PM
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