This post expands on the property tax talk from Jamestown’s April 23rd, public budget planning meeting.
About 45 minutes into that meeting, Councilman Gibson asked why Jamestown’s tax rate has increased so dramatically over the past eight years (by 28%) compared to other Guilford County municipalities (average 6%).
The town manager’s response was that you can’t compare towns to each other because they’re too different – Archdale, for example, which has “a lot of industrial and commercial development, which is valued much higher and allows them [Archdale] to keep their tax rate lower.”
That might be true in Archdale, but it is definitely not the case in Jamestown.
I pulled the property valuations and tax history for my house and the houses in my neighborhood and compared them to the 20-year tax valuation history for the industrial sites in the middle of town.
My husband and I bought our Jamestown home in 2018. In the EIGHT years since, the County has increased our property value three times. The 2026-27 revaluation will equate to an increase of 109% since 2018. The only major improvement we’ve made is a new HVAC system.
The Hood/Highland Container facility sits on 9.8 acres on Main Street in Jamestown. Twenty years ago (in 2006) it was valued by the County at $1,962,300. The valuation stayed at that amount until 2022 when it was revalued at $2,452,400.
In 2025, the Jamestown property tax bill for Hood’s 9.8-acre Jamestown property tax bill was $16,063, while a 9.72-acre grouping of 17 homeowners in the nearby Yorkshire neighborhood paid a combined total of $25,538:
Univar’s main building sits on 6.08 acres on the east side of Hood Container. TWENTY years ago (2006), this industrial parcel was valued by Guilford County at $1,862,200. In 2016 it DROPPED to $1,786,000. In 2025, it DROPPED AGAIN to $1,738,100.
In 2025, Univar paid Jamestown property taxes on this 6.08 parcel in the amount of $11,384, while a 6.16-acre grouping of 11 homeowners paid a combined total of $16,515 in Jamestown property taxes:
Staples LLC is a shuttered contaminated/hazardous site (a former metal fastener plant) that sits on 4.66 acres on the west side of Hood Container. TWENTY years ago (2006), this industrial site was valued by Guilford County at $1,268,200. In 2016 it DROPPED to $1,208,600. In 2025, it increased slightly, to $1,292,275.
In 2025, the Staples property owner paid Jamestown taxes on the 4.66 acre site in the amount of $8,464, while a 4.35-acre grouping of 8 homeowners paid a combined total of $11,668:
Industrial sites, landfills, Brownfields and inactive contaminated properties in Jamestown, Greensboro and High Point are the biggest polluters of our streams, soil and air.
Their heavy trucks, tractor-trailers, diesel engines, air emissions and wastewater are stressing our infrastructure, roads, public water system and treatment plants. The fire and sheriff departments funded by Jamestown taxpayers are the first responders when there’s a fire, hazmat event, “pink spill,” or work injuries.
NC Gen Stat § 160A-536 (2025) empowers municipalities to levy additional taxes in defined service districts to finance, provide, or maintain special services, facilities, or functions related to things like drainage, transit, watershed, revitalization, enhanced fire and haz-mat protection, wastewater and sewer projects and more.
THIS is where we need to be raising taxes.
More on Jamestown’s property valuations and property taxes:
More on Jamestown’s 2026-27 Preliminary Budget, property taxes, and fees: