My Forsyth_March 2021

Value of Business Investment
in Forsyth County Increases
by $527 Million
By Laura Stewart
The Forward Forsyth economic development partnership announced the results of a recent analysis of
the Forsyth County tax digest. The analysis reviewed changes in the tax digest from 2017 to 2019, the
period since the Forsyth County Chamber and Forsyth County Board of Commissioners initiated a new
economic development plan for the community.
With only 10 percent of Forsyth
County’s tax digest composed of businesses
comprising 24 percent of the total assessed
value of the tax digest, the remaining
burden of local taxes falls to homeowners.
The average homeowner in Forsyth County
uses more in services than they pay in taxes.
Local leaders knew that there would be
difficult choices to make in the future unless
we can increase new business investments
and new jobs to lift the proportionate
burden from homeowners.
The county’s new Economic Development
Strategic Plan and the creation of the
Forward Forsyth economic development
partnership are the result of an initiative by
the Chamber and the Forsyth County Board
of Commissioners to aggressively focus on
increasing business investment in Forsyth
County and balancing the tax digest.
From 2017 to 2019, there has been an
increase of $527 million in assessed value
of properties owned by businesses. The 19
percent increase in assessed value is driven
in part from adding 208 acres of land now
zoned for new businesses (a 1.5 percent
increase from 2017).
“While this is a long game that will take
many years to implement, it is exciting to
see these initial results.” said James McCoy,
President & CEO of the Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce. “We are performing
well ahead of the goals set back in 2017. It
speaks well of the partnership and leadership
of the community.”
Forward Forsyth is executing tactics
described in the Forsyth County
Economic Development Strategic Plan
to encourage developers to build new
buildings for target companies to lease and
marketing the community and availability
of those buildings to target industries:
technology, data services, e-commerce and
distribution, advanced manufacturing, and
professional services.
Forward Forsyth’s efforts in 2020 contributed to the creation of 528 new jobs
and $110 million in new capital investment. Forward Forsyth took action to move
the community’s unemployment rate (which was 10.4 percent at the end of April,
2020) to 2.8 percent by the end of November, 2020. To learn more about Forward
Forsyth’s progress in 2020 visit www.focoeconomicdevelopmentsummit.com.
44 MYFORSYTHMAG.COM VOLUME XI | ISSUE 1