As Asheville’s city leaders prepare for what City Council member Sage Turner has called “somewhat of a slaughtering of community services,” their Buncombe County counterparts are discussing how to expand local government’s work in the coming fiscal year.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on the county’s “first pass” budget for fiscal 2026-27 during a March 24 work session. County staffers floated over $504 million in general fund spending, a more than 15% increase over this year’s $438 million budget.
The proposal includes $4.4 million to cover 37 additional staff positions, which County Manager Avril Pinder called “a conservative ask” given the extent of Buncombe’s needs. Those new roles represent less than half of the 86 originally requested by county departments, as outlined in a list obtained through a BPR public records request.
The new personnel would be spread widely across county operations. Notable public-facing additions include a security guard and a social worker at the Pack Memorial Library (total annual cost of $205,000), a code enforcement team manager to help Buncombe handle problem properties ($161,000), and two community paramedics ($158,000).
Another two new employees ($242,000) would start preparing Buncombe’s recently acquired 342-acre parcel in Deaverview for use as a county park. “You may have heard that we bought a mountain,” quipped Budget Manager John Hudson. The new hires would begin designing its landscape and programming.
Another $4 million in new spending would support “community investments,” or grants Buncombe makes to other entities in support of the county’s goals. For example, the county would allocate $2.3 million for an affordable housing program, as well as $1 million for nonprofit grants, two initiatives that leaders chose not to support last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
“I understand that we had to make hard decisions with Helene, but I am supportive of us having this back in the budget, because we made those hard decisions then,” said Commissioner Terri Wells. “I think this is important funding.”
Given the county’s recently completed reappraisal, it’s unclear how much the property tax rate would have to increase to cover the proposed budget. Yet even if the county chose to hold service levels steady, residents would still face higher taxes.
Hudson told commissioners that Buncombe’s government is facing a five-year inflation rate of 24.4%, a level it hadn’t seen in over three decades. The economic fallout from a series of global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, new tariffs on trade, and the Iran War, have put upward pressure on prices.
“If it feels like you’ve spent more at the grocery store and are spending more doing things, it’s true,” Hudson said. “Inflation has driven the costs — not only for consumers, but the county as well — to include the costs of personnel, health care, contracted services, construction, and supplies.”
Moreover, Buncombe must pick up a number of expenses that were previously covered by federal or state governments. Those include an estimated $2.8 million in administrative costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, $350,000 to support the Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency, and $82,000 for emergency foster care placements.
Buncombe’s next fiscal work session takes place Thursday, April 16. Officials will discuss the revenue side of the budget, along with health care costs, county fees, and the Asheville City Schools supplemental tax rate.
See the full recording and documents from the March 24 work session.
In city budget news
Asheville City Council also held its own budget work session March 24. City staff’s latest figures project $187 million in general fund spending for fiscal 2026-27, roughly 5.6% more than the current year’s budget.
Although Asheville first estimated a $30 million gap between revenues and expenses next year, staff have proposed service reductions, the elimination of eight vacancies, and other strategies that would reduce the shortfall to $7.2 million. Those measures include using $1.9 million in one-time reserves from the transit and Harrah’s Cherokee Center funds to cover operating costs for those services. Experts in government budgeting, including the N.C. Department of State Treasurer, generally discourage using fund balance to pay for recurring expenses.
City departments did request 38 new employees, but budget staff only recommended adding two positions, for a total annual cost of $229,000, to help manage affordable housing and capital projects. Council has also shown interest in adding 16 new firefighters ($1.4 million), which would allow the Asheville Fire Department to reduce the hours its current firefighters must work each week. AFD members have said that staffing increase is critical for maintaining the department’s morale and service levels.
Asheville’s next fiscal work session takes place at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 14. Council will finalize its budget direction, review the city’s enterprise funds and capital spending, and discuss setting the property tax rate.
See the full recording and documents from the March 24 work session.
