Asheville’s nearly $250 million dollar budget will maintain business as usual.
The 122-page draft budget was unveiled at Tuesday’s Asheville City Council meeting. It was largely shaped by the strategic priorities that were determined at the February council retreat.
The annual budget for the city’s operations will expand services in only a few areas, due to what city manager Debra Campbell described as a “challenging budget year.”
“This proposed budget has been prepared under very different financial circumstances,” Campbell said. “The unprecedented sales tax growth that we saw over the prior three years has ended and one-time ARPA funding has been almost completely utilized as a result.”
The city’s primary source of revenue comes from property taxes and sales tax.
Here are five big takeaways:
- Property tax increases are nigh. In order to keep this year’s proposed budget balanced, the city must dip into its fund balance, i.e., its savings account. This year, council opted not to raise property taxes, but Mayor Esther Manheimer said that as a result, “next year is gonna be a painful situation” and that the city will almost definitely need to raise property taxes to maintain its services. Buncombe County is considering raising taxes this year and is also in the midst of a property appraisal, which will be unveiled in January.
- City employees are getting a raise. As part of a pledge to bring the city’s 1,300 employees to a living wage of $22.10 an hour, the city has committed to giving all employees a 4.11% compensation increase. Even with the increase, Asheville Fire Department employees will remain far below living wage (around $16 per hour) due to their unique pay structure that includes 24-hour shifts. The topic became heated when council member Kim Roney spoke for a higher wage on behalf of the firefighters and Mayor Esther Manheimer asked her where to find the funds. Watch that dispute.
- Public safety is getting a boost. The budget includes $270,000 to expand the drone program managed by the police and fire department, along with eight new positions that would grow the city’s new Community Responder Program. Several positions in the community responder program would be funded by the $2.75 million the city will receive through 2039 as part of a statewide opioid settlement.
- Council is prioritizing deferred maintenance on public infrastructure. Over the next five years, the city plans to spend more than $350 million on capital improvement projects, including $240 million in water service repairs and $11.3 million in parking garage maintenance. As part of that process, the city plans to hire 21 employees to oversee maintenance and repairs. Some of the funds will come from parking and water service increases that are set to take place in July.
- The bond campaign is a go. In order to pay for improvements in housing, transportation, parks and public safety facilities, the city plans to launch a campaign for a $75 million general obligation bond for the 2024 election cycle. Council expects to have a public hearing on the bond in July, with the goal of putting it on the November general election ballot. The budget also proposes a follow-up campaign in 2028 that would seek to raise an additional $75 million.
There will be a public hearing on the budget at council’s May 28 meeting and a vote on June 4.
BID passes its first reading
The proposed business improvement district, or BID, in downtown Asheville passed its first of two readings in a 5-1 vote, with Roney opposing and Sheneika Smith absent.
Before the vote, council members Maggie Ullman and Sage Turner acknowledged some of the growing concerns around the proposed tax district, which many residents voiced at the city’s April 24 public hearing on the district.
Ullman said the city doesn’t need to use the operational plan proposed by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Asheville Downtown Association, which currently suggests a primarily unelected board with a majority of seats going to commercial property owners.
“I've said to the folks that wrote that, it seems a little archaic,” Ullman said. “It just doesn't seem like it matches our community. Our downtown doesn't identify themselves as like ‘I own this much property.’ We identify ourselves by how we contribute, how we serve, what we want to see for the community.”
Ullman and Turner proposed that City Council prepare a resolution to reflect their intentions around how they’d like the district to be governed before the second and final vote on June 11.
“I really do believe that downtown should have a BID, but it is how it is managed and by whom and what for that I have concerns lingering and I think that's where this idea of a resolution could help resolve some of that,” Turner said.
Ullman said she would also like to see a dedicated board seat for a Continuum of Care member in order to help “connect the dots” between support services and the unhoused population downtown.
Councilwoman Antanette Mosley pointed out that the resolution would have “no legal effect,” a fact confirmed by city attorney Brad Branham.
Manheimer agreed, but pointed out that “people like a resolution” and that it “gives staff a clear path forward.”
If passed, the second vote would establish geographic boundaries and taxation of the district.
The vote would not establish the operational plan, however. That would be determined at a future date, according to Branham.
From public comment
- Downtown worker and business owner Hannah Gibbons shared an eight-minute anti-BID manifesto on behalf of the nearly 1,000 residents who signed a petition opposing the creation of a BID in downtown Asheville. They said they will keep organizing ahead of the final BID vote on June 11. Several other community members also spoke in opposition to the BID.
- Several community members, including Brooke Heaton, implored council to budget around $3 million to repair the Malvern Hills Pool by 2026. The pool “has been a vital part of our community,” Heaton said. “To witness the pool’s decline and closure is truly disheartening.” Council member Sage Turner suggested that council allocate money for the pool in its upcoming bond campaign, heightening the total bond from $75 million to $78 million. Manheimer replied that council would discuss the funds in more detail at a future date.
- Several residents, including Kristie Sluder, dressed up in American flag regalia to advocate that all Asheville City Council members stand for the pledge of allegiance. This appears to be in response to council members Kim Roney and Sheneika Smith, who don’t stand for the pledge, according to an op-ed by Asheville Watchdog.
- Several residents spoke in relation to the Israel-Gaza war, with some advocating for a ceasefire and others warning council about rising antisemitism in Asheville.
Other tidbits
- A resolution that will authorize UNC Asheville campus police to extend its jurisdiction beyond campus was approved 5-1, with Roney opposing and Sheneika Smith absent. Police chief Mike Lamb attributed the expansion to several “incidents” at a nearby apartment complex, The Verge, where there’s a high concentration of college students. Several residents spoke against the measure.
- Council approved a seven-item consent agenda. Highlights from the agenda included $16.9 million in upgrades for the Mills River Water Treatment Plant and a resolution to move council’s June 11 meeting to the Banquet Hall at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
- Council approved minor rezoning changes for a warehouse in South Asheville.
Every second and fourth Tuesday, Asheville City Council meets at the Council Chamber on the 2nd Floor of City Hall, 70 Court Plaza beginning at 5:00 p.m. See the full recording of the May 14 meeting and the agenda.
