From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE — Following two budget work sessions, a public hearing for Buncombe County’s proposed budget for fiscal 2025-26 — facing a $13.1 million revenue shortfall based on county revenue projections conducted in April — will be held on May 20.

The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners are scheduleed to vote on the 2025-26 budget on June 3. The new budget will run from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

As for how the proposed new budget will be balanced, AI Overview stated on May 4, “Yes, Buncombe County is likely to increase its property tax rate for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. 

“The county commissioners are facing a budget shortfall and are considering a tax increase to balance the budget. 

“A proposed increase of 3.21 cents per $100 of taxable value has been discussed, which would mean an extra $128 in taxes for a homeowner with a $400,000 property. “

Also, AI Overview noted, “This is due to a combination of factors, including increased costs associated with Hurricane Helene recovery and uncertainties surrounding potential federal reimbursements. 

“The county’s current property tax rate is 51.76 cents per $100 of valuation, and the commissioners are considering a potential increase in the rate to address projected revenue shortfalls. 

“The current rate stands at 51.76 cents per hundred dollars of valuation. 

“The work-in-progress budget presented to the commissioners during a recent worksession indicated projected expenditures of $438 million, which exceed revenues by $22.5 million. 

“Hurricane Helene is primarily responsible for the budgetary pressures,” AI Overview stated.

Meanwhile, on late afternoon May 9, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported that “the latest proposed plan from the county budget department pitched a 6 percent (budget) raise to the commission earlier this week. That would be a 3.26-cent increase.

“This would make the rate 55.02 cents per $100 of property value.”

To that end, Buncombe County Budget Director John Hudson told News 13. “This budget is still — expenditure-wise — a smaller budget than the current year.

“Inflation is still real. We’re still looking at 20-25 percent of costs over what we saw five years ago. For example, an ambulance that cost $250,000 four years ago is now around $400,000.”

News 13 added, “If the proposed budget is finalized as is, someone with a $350,000 home would pay an additional $114.

“One of the main reasons for the possible change is Hurricane Helene’s impact.”

Hudson told News 13, “With the hurricane damages, we have seen some impact to the property tax base. We’re still estimating what that is. Sales and property taxes are our two largest revenue sources. Those make up about 77 percent of the revenues that run the general fund for the county.”

The TV station noted that “nearly 12,000 homes and businesses were damaged throughout Buncombe County, which makes for more revenue not coming back. The plan also cites the same thing happening with sales tax.”

“We’re just not seeing the economy that we as a tourist economy are used to seeing,” Hudson told News 13. “We’re budgeting sales tax where we saw it come in during fiscal year ‘24. It has not rebounded the way you’d like. I saw this morning that Rutherford County proposed an 11.5 percent property tax increase to their budget. We’re not the only ones feeling the punch here.”

On the same topic, commissioners’ Chair Amanda Edwards provided News 13 with the following statement:

“Manager (Avril) Pinder presented her budget on Tuesday evening, and now it’s up to Commission members to review it, hear from the public, and give direction on how to finalize this budget. Our residents are feeling the continued impacts of Helene, and now the new impacts of federal policies, it’s all weighing on them, and this is front of mind for me.”

The operating budget in the plan is $634 million. The general fund would be just under $435 million, which does not include Helene relief dollars from the state and federal.

Hudson told News 13, “We can’t plan for revenue that we don’t have. I know the legislature is considering different options for funding. We haven’t seen any of that materialize at this point....”