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Liberty County holds public hearing on proposed $71.28 million FY27 operating budget
Summary
County finance staff presented a proposed FY27 general fund of $71,280,000, roughly a 4% increase from FY26, and said five months of new "floss" sales-tax collections could be applied to the tax digest to reduce millage; the board opened a public hearing and heard resident concerns about rising spending and housing affordability.
Samantha, a member of Liberty Countys finance team, presented the countys proposed FY27 operating budget and outlined key revenue and expenditure assumptions.
"The total original budget request submitted for FY27 was 74,700,000," Samantha said, then described reductions that produced a proposed general fund budget of 71,280,000. She told the board general property taxes account for roughly 58% of general fund revenues and that, because the taxable digest is not yet final, staff used a conservative revenue estimate. She also said five months of new "floss" sales-tax collections will be applied to this years tax digest and could allow a millage rollback.
Why it matters: the proposed FY27 budget represents an expansion of county spending compared with FY26 (about $68.5 million), and property taxes remain the largest single revenue source. Board members emphasized that final millage decisions will await the digest and staff modeling.
During the public hearing resident Glenn Birch urged the board to explain how the county will help households and small businesses cope with rising costs. "Since 2020, when the Liberty County budget was 32,000,000, we've experienced over a 100% growth in spending, and we're now... over 71,000,000," Birch said, asking whether the spending glide path is sustainable given slower income growth among residents.
Chairman Lovett responded that a public hearing is not a question-and-answer forum but invited Birch to meet with staff to discuss concerns; he also said the board and staff have held prior budget workshops and department heads have justified requests during that process. Samantha told commissioners that staff will present updated digest-based calculations when the tax digest is finalized and, if necessary, recommend amendments.
The board opened the public hearing at the meeting and did not take a final adoption vote; final action is scheduled for a future meeting once staff completes the digest-driven calculations.
Budget details and next steps: staff noted the original FY27 request of $74.7 million was pared down to a proposed general fund of $71.28 million (about a 4% increase over FY26s $68.5 million); salaries and benefits are estimated to account for roughly 65% of expenditures and public safety about 50% of functional spending. The board will review digest-driven tax estimates and consider whether to roll back the millage rate based on floss collections and finalized revenue numbers.
The public hearing record will remain open until the board's scheduled final-adoption meeting next month; no final millage or budget appropriation was adopted at this session.
