Liberty County BOC passes fire agreement for Midway’s consideration

Midway residents are one step closer to full fire coverage from Liberty County Fire and Emergency Services. They would pay for it through a county fire prevention tax district, under a tentative contract approved by the Liberty County Board of Commissioners Feb. 4. 

The contract, which County Chairman Donald Lovette said he “wouldn’t call a draft,” goes back to the city for what County Manager Joey Brown described as “line edits” and is not final until the city approves it.

Midway Mayor Levern Clancy told The Current that city officials and City Attorney John Pirkle would go over the document, adding, “It’s not final until the city review[s] it and they haven’t reviewed it yet.” In follow-up e-mails Wednesday, Clancy said he had not seen a copy of the draft contract and that council members would not be voting on it at Midway’s Feb. 10 city council meeting: “They can’t vote on something they haven’t seen.”

The Current asked Clancy to provide a rough estimate of what millage rate might be needed to cover the expense, whether the city might instead issue bonds to cover the cost, whether the council would have to advertise and hold public hearings on any proposed millage rate, or whether the tax would have to be approved by voters in a special election, as well as whether City Attorney John Pirkle would need to make any technical changes to the city charter would be necessary.

Clancy replied, “There is no rush he will get everything when council get[s] it we know the law.” Pressed further as to whether the city would impose a millage rate or issue bonds, Clancy wrote, “That is a council question but I can tell you it[‘s] going to be what’s best for the residents.”

County Attorney Kelly Davis told commissioners the draft contract includes reimbursement for expenses in the first year and the establishment of a fire prevention tax district. 

“In a nutshell, the county is agreeing to provide essentially the same services it provides unincorporated areas to the City of Midway,” Davis explained. “In return, the City of Midway, for the first year, will reimburse the county, based on invoices submitted to the City of Midway for the actual cost expenses incurred by us in the startup and the provision of services during that initial year.”

After that, he said, “it’s anticipated that we’ll establish a fire prevention tax district where, much like in the unincorporated areas of the county, an assessment or tax will be levied against the taxpayers in the City of Midway to defray the cost provision of the fire services within the city. And of course, the city will fully cooperate with us in those matters, and they’ll enact whatever ordinances that we need to fully authorize us to provide services within their city limits.”

Kelly added that the city would make its water system available free of charge to county fire services, and that the agreement would protect the county so that it would “timely receive payment and have mechanisms in place to ensure those payments are timely received” by imposing a default interest rate and “a wide range of remedies” if Midway doesn’t pay the county on time. The county has tightened language in all its contracts with local municipalities after slow payments from Walthourville and Hinesville city elections.

Liberty County Fire Chief Brian Darby and Assistant Fire Chief Christopher Morrison were at Tuesday’s meeting, “in case anyone has questions,” Darby said. No commissioners asked any questions about the plan, which Darby had previously explained at the Dec. 19, 2024 board meeting, and the chiefs left without addressing the board.

County officials had suggested that perhaps the City of Riceboro might consider splitting the costs of placing a new county station where it could serve both cities. However, Riceboro decided to maintain its all-volunteer fire station. 

The BOC’s vote to authorize a deal with Midway is the latest step in efforts to replace Midway’s defunct volunteer fire department, most of whose members quit after repeated run-ins with Clancy and Mayor Pro Tem Clemontine Washington. 

After The Current’s investigation uncovered the problems at Midway’s firehouse, Clancy shut down the facility without warning and told Campbell not to let firefighters in, citing possible health and safety hazards. Campbell resigned on the spot, and several other volunteer firefighters also resigned.

Since then, some Midway residents have complained that their property insurance has either gone up or that they lost coverage, due to lower ISO (or Verisk) ratings. For insurers who use that system, an ISO rating determines what a property owner pays for fire coverage.

Darby has pointed out that, even though Midway’s ISO fire safety rating dropped, not all insurance companies use that scoring system to provide coverage. Liberty County’s ISO rating is 4/4x, slightly above average, with 1 being the highest rating, and Midway residents would benefit from the county’s higher rating once a deal is finalized.

Brown had said predicted growth coming to Midway would dilute some costs for existing property owners. 

The problem for the City of Midway has been how to pay for the over $5 million in estimated costs to start a fully-staffed, fully-equipped fire station from scratch. The proposed deal would spread out those efforts and expenses over five years. 

The first year would cost an estimated $842,330.09, including $225,556 in one-time startup costs, paid quarterly.

According to the county’s 2024 Consolidation and Evaluation of Digest for Midway (District 6), the total taxable property value across all categories comes to $105,833,007. (That’s the 40% assessed value on tax bills.) Whatever the city has to pay the county would likely be calculated as a millage rate on the city’s total taxable property value.

The last Report of Local Government Finances for the City of Midway posted on the Georgia Department of Community Affairs website, from 2020, shows the city’s revenues totaled $1,078,967.

Midway has not posted its budget since 2017 on its website. On August 15, 2024, The Current filed an Open Records Request with the City of Midway for copies of its 2022 through 2025 budgets. The city has yet to fulfill that request.

The City of Midway has been undergoing at least one audit but no results of that audit had been made public as of this publication. The last audited financial statement that Midway has posted on its website is from 2018.

Midway’s City Council is scheduled to meet 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 10. Lovette said at least one county commissioner would attend that meeting.