Buncombe County officials caught an earful over the fiscal year 2026-27 budget proposed by County Manager Avril Pinder during Tuesday night’s Board of Commissioners meeting. None of the 11 residents who spoke during public comment supported the spending plan, with many saying it would create an unreasonable burden on homeowners and local businesses.
As Pinder outlined in a presentation to the Board of Commissioners, Buncombe staff recommend a property tax rate of 43.52 cents per $100 of assessed value. That represents a roughly 11% increase over the revenue-neutral rate of 39.22 cents per $100, or a $192 increase for a home at the county’s median value of $446,500.
The higher taxes would power a general fund budget of $485.1 million. Compared with last year’s $438 million budget, Buncombe’s proposed spending would support 32 new county staffers, $11.1 million more for K-12 education, higher wages for existing employees, and grants for affordable housing and nonprofit partners. “This budget invests in rebuilding, funding essential services as well as priorities from our 2030 strategic plan,” Pinder said.
Public commenters, however, said Buncombe should instead focus on avoiding a tax increase, especially given the county’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene. Matt Allen, director of government affairs for the Land of the Sky Association of Realtors, argued that raising rates would have a negative ripple effect across the area’s housing market.
“Citizens across Buncombe County are already feeling an intense affordability squeeze,” Allen said. “Increasing the property tax rate would further exacerbate the situation, leading to several repercussions regarding housing affordability, monthly mortgage payments, rental rates, home values, and property sales across the county.”
Other notable commenters opposed to the tax increase included Steve Foster, secretary-treasurer of the Council of Independent Business Owners; C.J. Domingo, the Republican candidate for N.C. Senate District 49; and Pisgah Inn owner Bruce O’Connell, who challenged Commissioner Terri Wells as an unaffiliated candidate in 2024.
“I want fire protection, I want police protection, I want good education in the schools — we all do. But what I don’t want is to piss away money on social programs that we can’t afford right now,” proclaimed O’Connell.
Residents will next have the opportunity for formal comment on the budget at a public hearing Tuesday, May 19. Commissioners are currently slated to approve the plan Tuesday, June 2.
Proposed fire tax would have uneven impacts
In addition to the general property tax increase, Pinder proposed a higher tax rate to support Buncombe’s fire services. Residents of unincorporated areas, as well as Biltmore Forest, Montreat,and Woodfin, would pay 11.73 cents per $100 of property value — a nearly 28% increase over the revenue-neutral rate.
The new rate would apply across the county, replacing the 20 separate tax rates that had been in place before commissioners voted to create a unified fire tax district April 21. Estimates provided to the board April 28, obtained by BPR through a public records request, show that the change would have drastically different implications for different parts of Buncombe.
The Broad River Fire District, for example, would see its fire department budget increase by 88%, while the effective tax rate for its residents would only go up by about 3.5%. In contrast, the Skyland Fire District’s budget would get a 28% boost, but its effective tax rate would increase by 70%.
As previously reported by BPR, the transfer of revenue to rural fire districts like Broad River is meant to help their fire departments achieve financial sustainability and raise service standards. In service of those goals, the county’s fire chiefs had requested an even higher tax rate of 14.37 cents per $100, equivalent to a 56% increase over revenue neutral. Commissioners will approve a final fire tax district rate as part of the overall budget.
Other tidbits
- Ryan Olson, Southern Appalachian conservation finance director with the Trust for Public Land, presented his organization’s work on bond referenda that Buncombe may include on November’s midterm ballot. As previously reported by BPR, the county aims to approve tens of millions in new borrowing to support its affordable housing and conservation goals. Olson said a feasibility study on the new bonds was “positive” and that TPL was currently assessing public opinion. If commissioners decide to move forward, a public hearing on the referenda would be set for Tuesday, June 16.
- The board unanimously approved a letter seeking community engagement from Sam Hazen, the CEO of HCA Healthcare. The resolution had been proposed by the Land of Sky Regional Council, a coalition of local governments, in March and was adopted by Asheville City Council last week. Commissioner Drew Ball said he was concerned about ongoing issues at HCA-owned Mission Hospital and worried that the health system had “what appears to be a too-big-to-fail dynamic.”
- Buncombe accepted a $3.5 million grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality to improve the recycling of construction and demolition waste. A new sorting area and new equipment will help keep materials like cardboard, metal, wood, and brick out of the landfill. According to Kristy Smith, the county’s solid waste manager, roughly 32% of current construction and demolition waste — 17,000 tons per year — could be recycled with the proper infrastructure in place.
- The county declared May as Wildfire Preparedness Month and May 3-9 as Hurricane Preparedness Week. At a briefing prior to the formal meeting, commissioners also heard a presentation about the county’s wildfire prevention work, such as asking homeowners to create “defensible space” without excess vegetation around their properties. Van Taylor Jones, Buncombe’s emergency services director, encouraged residents to prepare personal emergency kits and sign up for emergency alerts by texting "BCReady" to 67283 or registering online.
Every first and third Tuesday, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meets at 200 College St., Room 326, in downtown Asheville, beginning at 5 p.m. The board’s next regular meeting will take place Tuesday, May 19.
See the full recording and documents from the May 5 meeting.
