Liberty County voters are deciding whether to extend the existing one-cent sales tax for schools. Early voting started Feb. 24, and as of March 5, 2025, 564 in-person and 6 paper mail-in or drop-box votes had been cast. The referendum is set for March 18.
The Liberty County School Board is seeking a maximum of $112,000,000 from the tax over 5 years — that’s $1.86 million each month — to build and repair local schools, buy new school buses, band instruments, textbooks, playgrounds, “digital resources,” HVAC repairs, safety and security upgrades, and “any necessary property, both real and personal.”
According to an explanatory video on the Liberty County School System’s website, the existing ESPLOST has brought in about $1.6 million per month. The $200,000 per month projected increase is likely due to a combination of higher prices and new businesses opening in the county.
Opponents say they are unhappy that the county, specifically the Board of Commissioners, already has taxed local homeowners to the hilt. While the county tax commissioner collects the school tax, just as it collects taxes for some municipalities and the county hospital, the Board of Commissioners has nothing to do with ESPLOST’s budgeting or spending. The public notice about ESPLOST is posted on the county’s website because the county Elections Office is holding the referendum.
The Liberty County School Board, a completely separate entity from the rest of the county, is asking voters for permission to continue the one-cent sales tax for another 5 years.
All money collected for special local option sales taxes, by law, must only be spent on the specific items called for in the referendum. It is a dedicated account that cannot be moved into the school system’s general fund to cover operations of a shortfall.
An explanation on Liberty County School System’s website notes, “The ESPLOST helps to reduce property taxes by using a sales tax as a funding mechanism, rather than issuing a bond for construction programs that property owners may be required to pay through a property tax.”
The school board says it needs the money to pay for:
- Building and outfitting new schools and facilities
- New roofs, HVAC repairs, additional classrooms, playgrounds, and physical education facilities
- Safety, security, and technology upgrades
- “New school equipment and furnishings, including but not limited to, band instruments, text books, and digital resources”
- New school buses and maintenance vehicles
- Property acquisition
The school board also says it could seek additional local, state, and federal funds to make up any difference if the sales tax doesn’t raise enough money to cover those items.
ESPLOST money cannot be spent on salaries or “consumable instructional materials” like workbooks.
Some things the previous ESPLOST funded include:
- Artificial turf installation at Liberty County High School and Bradwell Institute football stadiums
- New track and field plus field games at Liberty County High School
- New flooring, bathrooms, lighting, and paint at Midway Middle School
- HVAC and energy upgrades, including solar power
- Media center furniture upgrades
- Digital signs at Frank Long Elementary, Taylors Creek Elementary, Waldo Pafford Elementary, Joseph Martin Elementary and Snelson Golden Middle, Lewis Frasier Middle, Liberty County High, Liberty College and Career Academy, and the Performing Arts Center
- Track resurfacing and new baseball and softball turf at Liberty County High and Bradwell Institute
- Tennis court upgrades and basketball floor replacement at Bradwell Institute
- Touchless bathroom fixtures
If passed, the measure would not increase existing sales tax — it would renew the existing ESPLOST penny sales tax, starting in February 2026.
When and where can I vote?
You can vote early weekdays through March 14, and on Saturday, March 8. The polls are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m during early voting at the Historic Liberty County Courthouse, 100 S. Main Street in Hinesville, and at the Liberty County Community Complex, 9397 E. Oglethorpe Highway in Midway.
On Tuesday, March 18, you can vote at your assigned precinct from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check your Georgia My Voter Page to find your assigned precinct.
You can keep track of how many early ballots have been cast by checking the Liberty County Board of Registration and Elections website after the polls close each day. If you want to vote by mail, you must apply by Friday, March 7. Contact Kashauna Johnson at the Board of Registration and Elections at (912) 368-5008 or e-mail kashauna.johnson@libertycountyga.com . For general voting information, call the main office at (912) 876-3310 or e-mail elections@libertycountga.com.
Two separate issues
In November, Georgia voters approved HB 581. That bill, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law, allows local governments — school boards, municipalities, counties — to adjust homestead exemptions by passing a one-cent sales tax to offset inflation. That one-cent tax is a floating local option sales tax, or FLOST. The Liberty County School Board has voted to opt out of the FLOST.
What does opting out mean?
The idea behind HB 581 is to limit millage rate increases so the amount of property tax increase doesn’t exceed the rate of inflation for the previous year. (Property taxes are paid on a home’s previous year’s taxable value.)
If a local governing body opts out of HB 581, then increases its millage rate, it is forever passing up the chance to impose a one-cent sales tax that would have offset any millage rate increase due to inflation.
However, the school system would not share in the sales tax the county will collect to pay for its millage rate offset.
Because the school system does not get any of the sales tax the county collects, as a separate body, it had the choice to opt in and issue its own sales tax, or opt out and continue to set its own millage rate.
Who benefits?
Proponents of opting in say sales taxes ease homeowners’ pain by using non-residents’ money. They point to increasing retail sales from new businesses like World of Beer, Wawa, and the Publix under construction, as well as from established retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and other Liberty County businesses that also serve people from surrounding counties.
For people who don’t own a home, that extra penny in sales tax might not feel like a bargain. A sales tax is a regressive tax, meaning that people with lower incomes who don’t own homes don’t benefit directly from the homestead exemption offset. However, if they have children in the school system, they could benefit indirectly, as the millage rate pays collectively for free public education.
People who don’t have children in the school system also benefit indirectly from their neighbors’ children being educated.
How do I get a homestead tax exemption?
If you own your home and have never applied for a homestead exemption, you should do so now before April 1. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait until next January 1 to apply. It’s as simple as bringing you ID and a copy of your warranty deed to the Liberty County Tax Assessor’s office, in the Courthouse Annex at 112 N. Main Street in Hinesville, and filling out a form. Once you apply, you will get the exemption for as long as you live in your home. You are only taxed on 40% of the fair market value of your home, which is calculated every year and depends on many factors. You might also qualify for additional exemptions. Call (912) 876-3568 or e-mail tax.assessors@libertycountyga.com for help figuring out the best tax exemptions for your situation.
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