From Staff Reports

The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on June 18 approved a tax increase for home and commercial property owners, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported later June 18.

The new budget will go into effect on July 1.

“The tax increase has been slightly lowered than the original increase recommended by County Manager Avril Pender,” News 13 noted. “This increase will not be reflected in upcoming tax bills until 2025.

“For a home valued at $400,000, the bill for Buncombe County taxes alone will be $2,070. But, bills can also have an additional line item of taxes to cover fire department expenses for a given area.”

Most of county property tax revenues will be spent on public education.

For those wanting to contest their new property valuation in January, Buncombe staff recommend visiting the following websites: Tax Relief Programs, Tax Appeals, or Property Tax Lookup.

In News 13’s “Comment Bubble” following the story, among the responses were the following”

• terraformis — “So sad that people do not realize that 50 yrs. ago the bulk of these taxes were covered by corporations that were making millions and billions off the resources of the area. Now, those same entities are not paying any taxes or very little... so that means that burden is shifted to others....”

• G454blockhead — “It’s funny how they throw away millions on reparations, homeless programs, commissioners selling solar panels to the county to line their own pockets and then cry poverty because they can’t cover basic services….when will people say enough and stop paying… they can’t put us all in jail!!”

• BBRRe — “You found one person who said, “It’s fair” and call that news? With the cost of everything going up, raising taxes now is definitely not the right answer. That will reflect in my vote come November. I urge everyone here to let the county know their mistake in November.”