At the May 21, 2024 Town Council meeting, a Jamestown resident announced that as the result of a simple inquiry, he found out Jamestown was due about $110,000 in 2023-2024 property taxes from D.R. Horton for the 467-acre parcel the developer has owned at Guilford College/MacKay roads since 2021. Earlier that day, he forwarded a copy of the email from Ben Chavis, Guilford County Tax Director, evidencing this oversight, to Jamestown’s town manager and council:
Here’s a video clip of his announcement. Town Council meetings have a 3-minute public comment limit. The beeping in the video is the timer:
The resident’s announcement followed a presentation by the town manager in which he proposed another increase in the property tax rate to meet what he says is a $260,000 shortfall in the town’s $16 million annual budget.
Here is the resident’s email inquiry:
On MAY 28, 2024, because of the resident’s discovery, the Guilford County Tax Department invoiced D.R. Horton for property taxes due to Jamestown and Guilford County.
On JUNE 3, 2024, D.R. Horton paid the invoice for property taxes due to Jamestown: $108,203.79.
On JUNE 13 and JUNE 25, 2024, Jamestown’s town manager told the town council and The Jamestown News that only $56,000 of the $108,203.79 was “collected” by the town. Of that $56,000, $19,000 was paid to Pinecroft Sedgefield Fire Department, he said, and the amount coming to Jamestown would be “$35,000 or less.”
JUNE 30, 2024 – The resident posted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/J5bJFQ7ZUitmDMsQ/?
On JULY 2, 2024, Ben Chavis sent the resident a copy of the “PAID” invoices totaling $108,203.79. [The invoices also showed additional “Late List” penalties due to Jamestown for $13,589.56] On July 3rd, the resident wrote Chavis and town manager Matthew Johnson asking about the $52,203.79 difference between what the Guilford County Tax Department said D.R. Horton PAID to Jamestown, and what the town manager said D.R. Horton PAID to Jamestown.
JULY 15, 2024 – Here’s the latest from the resident, excerpted from his July 14, 2024 post:
On 6/3/2024, D.R. Horton paid the remainder of its taxes – having been improperly billed for the Johnson Farm for the 2023-2024 tax year. The total coming to Jamestown NC for the year is $108,203.79. The figure is so precise because the Director of the Guilford County Tax Department, Mr. Ben Chavis, sent me a copy of the paid bills. I received them on July 2, 2024.
Why did Jamestown’s town manager repeatedly tell our Council — both in the June 13 Budget Retreat and the June 25 Council Meeting — that the amount coming to Jamestown would be $35,000 “or less”?
No idea.
Why didn’t the Council/Mayor — who was copied on the correspondence from Mr. Chavis — ask our town manager for a further explanation in the June 25 Council Meeting?
No idea.
That’s because no one replies to my emails except Mr. Chavis, and even he is reluctant to. I have had no reply from any of them — the Town Manager, the Council, the Mayor, etc. — since writing Mr. Chavis, etc., back on July 3.
A bit of transparency and sharing of public records would be sufficient to understand what is going on.
I received these documents on July 2 from Mr. Chavis. He has been consistently saying that Jamestown is owed ~ $100K, which I first brought up in the May 21 Council meeting. I wrote Mr. Chavis and Mr. Johnson (and the Mayor/Council, etc.) on July 3 to ask why Mr. Johnson has said the amount would be only $56K, or $35K, “or less” as he stated at the June 25 Council meeting. I have yet to receive a reply.
The town manager was repeating what he told Jamestown’s Council at the Budget Retreat on June 13, 2024 — ten days after D.R. Horton paid the bills. The minutes say: “Approximately $56,000 was collected. The Town owes Pinecroft Sedgefield Fire Department about $19,000 and a portion will be allocated to the Capital Reserve fund. That leaves around $35,000 or less in additional revenue for fiscal year 2023-2024, less than the resident claimed.”
However, NONE of the original taxes billed to D.R. Horton — and monies previously collected by the Guilford County Tax Department — were to go to Jamestown. They were collected for the County and the fire department (again, I reference the bill in the post I made recently on this same topic for the evidence).
As of today, JULY 14, 2024, the D.R. Horton bills for the 2023-2024 Tax Year — on the Guilford County Tax Department website — still say “Full Release” and that $0 is coming to Jamestown (in contradiction to the pictured paid bills in this post).