County Profile

On March 17, 1758, an act passed by the Georgia Legislature divided the Province of Georgia into eight parishes. The eight parishes of colonial Georgia were St. Paul’s, St. George’s, St. Matthew’s, Christ Church’s, St. Philip’s, St. John’s, St. Andrew’s, and St. James. In February of 1776, the Georgia Legislature created a county from St. Philip’s parish, called Bulloch County.

In the late 1750s, a South Carolina native, Archibald Bulloch, came to Georgia and acquired a plantation along the Savannah River. Mr. Bulloch was a revolutionary leader who opposed the authoritative rule of the British Parliament. Due to his bravery and selfless acts, on January 20, 1776, Archibald Bulloch was elected President of the Executive Council of Georgia. Days later he was elected to the esteemed position of Provincial Governor.

While traditionally an agricultural community hosting a small teacher’s college, everything changed when a man named “Erk (short for Erskine)” Russell came to town to coach football at Georgia Southern College in 1982. After his arrival, Statesboro and Bulloch County were never the same. County residents are proud to be the home of Georgia Southern University, the flagship post-secondary institution of South Georgia with an enrollment approaching 20,500 students. The impact of Georgia Southern University is significant for Statesboro, Bulloch County, and the region. A study has estimated the regional impact of the University for Bulloch and surrounding counties to be over $748 million and is responsible for creating over 10,000 jobs above its direct employment base of over 1,800 workers.

The Board of Commissioners, as the policymaking governing body of the County, consists of a part-time Chairperson (elected at large) and six part-time district commissioners elected from two districts (two from District 1 and four from District 2) for four-year, staggered terms. A Vice-Chairman position is filled each year for a one-year term in succession as described in local legislation. They hold regular meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month, and hold special called meetings, as required. They are responsible for both executive and legislative functions, including establishing ordinances, passing resolutions, setting the annual budget and tax rates, property control, and other internal and external policy.

In addition to the Board of Commissioners, The Georgia Constitution provides for each county to have four elected officers with certain special powers: Sheriff, Tax Commissioner, Clerk of the Superior Court and Judge of the Probate Court. The Board of Commissioners may set annual appropriations for each official, but does not have operating authority over their affairs, except for those offices where employees are governed under county personnel rules and to provide annual appropriations. There are also various other elected or appointed officials in the judiciary where they are treated similarly by the Board.

As the form of government is a Commission-Manager model (which corresponds to a municipal council-manager form), Bulloch County citizens can boast of their professionally run county government. This allows the Commission to transfer the day-to-day executive functions and implementation of Board policies to a trained and qualified expert. Starting under the leadership of Chairman Robert Cox, in 1991, the County hired its first county manager, Scott Wood, who immediately began building a cadre of professional administrators that included initially a County Engineer, County Planner, and Staff Attorney. He was further tasked with building an organizational structure from the ground up. After 13 years, Tom Couch took over the helm as County Manager in 2004.

During both manager tenures, the County has enhanced its administrative capacity and workforce consistent with the growth of the community by hiring highly educated and experienced professionals to fill key positions. The County executive staff has no less than six people with advanced degrees in public or business administration and law, and virtually all department heads have bachelor’s degrees that include disciplines such as accounting, civil engineering, urban planning, building construction, recreation, and criminal justice. The average tenure of mid-to-high level management is around fifteen-years with the county. Under Couch’s tenure, the County established its first positions for Human Resources Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Special Projects Manager.

In addition to its strong tradition of providing excellent county-based systems for transportation, law enforcement, criminal justice, and public health and welfare, the County during its growth boom has added several governmental services for an urbanizing population. The County now offers services for E-911, animal control, solid waste recycling, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), planning and zoning, recreation, and EMS-rescue, among others.

Financially, Bulloch County’s annual budget is now over $100 million, and the County manages assets of over $140 million. The County has among the lowest base ad valorem tax rates for county services in Georgia at 11.6 mills. Including constitutional officers, there are 488 full time-employees budgeted. However, the reliance on part-time employees in recreation increases the full-time equivalent to 603. Add the unpaid labor factor of inmates from the County Correctional Institute, and the number goes to over 700.

Structurally, the Board of Commissioners and the County Manager directly oversee five operational divisions that include public safety (animal control, E-911, EMS-Rescue, Correctional Institute, adult probation, and rural fire), public works (roads, solid waste, and fleet management), community services (recreation, health and human services), development services (planning and zoning, building inspections and economic development).

There are also traditional state-based services delivered at the county level including elections, tax assessment and collections, the Sheriff and Jail, the criminal justice system at a circuit level which includes, Effingham, Jenkins and Screven Counties, cooperative extension services, family and children services, and a county health department. The County also funds services at the regional level including a library, dial-a-ride transit services, aging services and more.

Improving public safety services has taken a front seat during the past decade, as the County has had to furnish a higher level of service with the population growth. The $12 million addition to the Akins Public Safety Complex (named after long-time Sheriff Arnold Akins) in 2008 added 220 beds to the jail and a new E-911 and Emergency Operations Center. Both facilities are state of the art in terms of functionality and technology. The E-911/EOC serves as both a local and regional facility as Bulloch’s E-911 serves Candler and Evans County. Bulloch County also boasts a state of the art 800 MHz communications system and received over a $1 million grant award to implement communications interoperability with surrounding jurisdictions. In 2010, the County also constructed a new Animal Shelter. The County has also spent several hundred thousand dollars in courthouse security upgrades and additional personnel. Over the past three years, the County added twelve full-time firefighters and will add six more in fiscal year 2023 to build rural fire capability which enables better response and lower hazard insurance rates for many rural residents.

Bulloch County has progressively become a leader in southeast Georgia and statewide in environmental management and solid waste recycling. In 2009, the County was awarded a $380,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to become a regional recycling hub for surrounding communities. In addition to twenty convenience centers located county-wide, the County has a recycling processing center and there remains only a handful of “green box” dumpsters serving the most remote areas, which is a far cry from the former 450 dumpsters serving the entire county in the 1970s.

Surface transportation and road improvements have always been a critical challenge in Bulloch County given its 1,200-mile road system. The road network overall is very functional and well maintained. Interstate 16 has become a significant economic and travel corridor since its construction in 1972. Both U.S. 301 and State Route 67 offer quick access to Statesboro. Veterans Memorial Parkway, a four-lane perimeter road with a divided median encircling most of Statesboro, opened in 1994. The Parkway extends south from Highway 80 West then circles north to Highway 301 North. This Parkway is becoming Bulloch County’s major corridor providing not only a means to divert large truck traffic from downtown Statesboro but allows quick access to GSU, the local airport and the city’s emerging commercial and industrial areas.

While Bulloch County is among others owning the most paved roads of any county in the state, it also has the most dirt road mileage of any other county in Georgia. Therefore, the County has invested significant funds in road maintenance and construction equipment. Since County forces can construct roads to pavement ready status, this brings substantial cost savings for local road improvement projects.

As a part of its master greenway plan, a major transportation project was the initial $2 million, 3.1-mile phase, of the S & S Greenway, an eight-mile multi-use vehicle-pedestrian corridor between Statesboro and the town of Brooklet. This project connects to Statesboro’s multi-use pedestrian trail and a multi-use trail developed by GSU.

The airport, located just north of Statesboro, has emerged as an important transportation and economic development element. The airport now handles over 22,000 aviation operations annually. It is progressively becoming one of Georgia’s best Level Ill general aviation public airports. An aggressive expansion program began in the mid-1990s which included modem navigation systems, several new hangars (including a corporate hanger), taxi-lanes and runway improvements, and on-going terminal improvements. In the last decade, these multi-million-dollar investments have helped to make its operations self-funding through increased fuel sales, landing fees, and hangar rentals.

Recreation and leisure opportunities are abundant in Bulloch County. The Parks and Recreation Department is one of the oldest and most prestigious recreation organizations in the state. Bulloch County takes pride in providing various recreational activities to its citizenry. The department maintains and operates eight recreation areas encompassing more than 240 acres. The department also oversees 30 buildings on these parks. Along with these facilities, the department has a good relationship with both the Board of Education and Georgia Southern University, thus allowing the department joint use of facilities at non-peak times. Included in these parks are 38 athletic fields, ten tennis courts, two swimming pools, 11 outdoor basketball courts, walking trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, and picnic pavilions.

Mill Creek also features SPLASH in the ‘Boro, its marquee attraction. Splash in the ‘Boro Family Aquatic Center, Splash, was built in 2004 with an initial investment of $5.4. At the time, the Board of Commissioners hoped it would at least break even. It currently consists of an 800-foot-long lazy river, a 7,000 square foot play pool with a maximum depth of 18 inches and with spray features; a leisure pool six feet deep at the deepest; three water slides, concessions facilities, and shade structures. There are also lap pools and a therapy pool. In 2007, another major expansion added features including a new tot slide and spray ground in the existing island area of the leisure pool. The river area was expanded on the west side of the park to add a zero-beach entry and sunning area. Additionally, a new four-lane mat racer slide and a simulation “surf-rider” was installed which will provide extreme thrill rides for the teen market. The expansion cost approximately $4 million and was finished in 2009. The expansion was funded by debt service to be paid from generated revenues. In 2017, a wave pool, expanded entrance, and other features were added.

Bulloch County’s vast geography guarantees its place as a leader in agribusiness in Georgia, even if Statesboro and southern Bulloch County evolve as a small metropolitan area. The County is ranked 3rd highest in the state in total farm acreage with over 206,000 acres and ranks 8th in farm gate value for timber and forestry products. The County’s farms provide a venerable mix of row crops, livestock, and poultry. New products have also been introduced in the last generation, including sweet carrots and onions.