Buncombe County officials say a new state tax law – and a follow-up bill passed by lawmakers this week – have thrown a wrench into the county’s recently adopted budget.
At a Thursday briefing, County Manager Avril Pinder said commissioners now face two options: use outdated property values or accept a nearly $25 million hit to the county’s adopted budget.
Either way, the county is now forced to reopen the budget that commissioners voted through only a month ago, due to revenue shortfalls caused by the new legislation.
Amanda Edwards, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners chair, said the state’s decision “undermines” the county’s recent work to build a budget around more accurate and equitable property values.
“This is nothing but bad news for the people of Buncombe County,” she said, adding that the legislation is especially frustrating because the 2026 reappraisal was designed, in part, to address concerns that higher-end properties had been underassessed in Buncombe County.
Edwards continued to say that the legislation is forcing the county to “use outdated market values that several studies have shown disproportionately impact low- and moderate-income residents.”
The budget dilemma stems from a new state law that temporarily blocks counties from using 2026 property tax reappraisals to calculate tax bills. That law went into effect on July 1.
Then, in response to concerns from Buncombe and other Helene-affected communities, state lawmakers passed a follow-up measure, Senate Bill 474, that could allow some counties to use their 2026 property values after all.
However, that bill had a costly, last-second caveat tacked on: should Buncombe opt to use new property tax values, it must adopt a revenue-neutral property tax rate of 40 cents per $100 of assessed value, down from the 43.2-cent rate commissioners adopted in June.
The change would reduce county revenue by $24.8 million, a move that Pinder said would “negatively impact the programs and level of service we provide our communities.”
County officials said that decision will need to be made by commissioners, but given the scale of projected revenue loss, Buncombe’s most likely path is to follow the moratorium and use 2021 property values. Under that option, Pinder said commissioners could vote on a new property tax rate that would generate enough revenue to balance the adopted budget.
“This means we would also need to revisit the tax rate for the Asheville City Schools and the unified fire tax districts,” she said, adding that local municipalities including Montreat, Black Mountain, Weaverville, Woodfin, Biltmore Forest and the city of Asheville would also be impacted.
Still, Buncombe expects to lose about $1.8 million in public service utility tax revenue, while municipalities across the county would lose an additional $289,000. Public service companies are valued by the N.C. Department of Revenue, not the county, and county officials said the loss stems from the state’s equalization of those values.
All of the uncertainty around the budget could also delay when tax bills are mailed. Pinder said bills are more likely to go out in September than August if the county has to reset its system to use older values. When asked if the new legislation had caused confusion, Pinder had a blunt reply.
“That’s a resounding yes,” she said. “Not just confusion for staff, but for our community as well. We’ve had lots of questions around what does that mean? What is a tax rate? What is my bill going to look like?”
Commissioners are expected to discuss their options later this month at a July 21 meeting.
