Residents of unincorporated parts of Buncombe County will see a 5% increase in the cost of garbage pickup as of the first of the year.
The increase, $1.43 a month for a typical user, is authorized by the franchise agreement between county government and garbage service provider FCC Environmental Services, county Solid Waste Director Dane Pedersen told Buncombe commissioners at their meeting Thursday.
FCC’s rate for residential trash collection will rise from $28.65 a month to $30.08. FCC provides trash service for areas outside Buncombe County’s municipalities.
FCC’s agreement with the county, which took effect at the beginning of 2025, provides for no rate increases for the first two years then increases of between 3.5% and 5% for each of the following five years, Pedersen said.
The figure each year is tied to a national measure of the cost of garbage collection services compiled by the federal government. The garbage and trash collection portion of the Consumer Price Index rose 5.2% from September 2025 to September 2026. The increase for FCC’s Buncombe customers will be only 5% because of the limit in the contract, Pedersen said.
Lewis Knight, FCC’s general manager for Buncombe County, said in an interview that FCC and waste haulers across the country have been affected by the high cost of diesel fuel, a significant portion of operating costs.
Under the terms of the contract, commissioners are not required to approve the increase nor can they block it, Pedersen said.
Knight told county commissioners that FCC has dramatically reduced customer complaints and is taking steps to ensure it has bear-resistant trash cans available to meet rising demand from county residents.
Many county residents complained of missed trash pickups or difficulty getting information from FCC shortly after the company first took over local service from the previous franchisee, Waste Pro, prompting strong criticism from commissioners last year.
Knight said FCC averaged 78 missed pickups in August 2025. That figure dropped to an average of three per week in August of this year, he said.
“We all know in 2025 we had a rough start when we first got going,” he said. “We have drastically got better.”
Commissioner Terri Wells gave a similar assessment, saying she has “certainly seen an improvement in customer service.”
Knight said FCC is instituting a standing order from its supplier for bear-resistant trash carts so as to ensure it always has them in stock and will soon send fliers to customers about their availability. He acknowledged that there have been times when FCC had none available, which he attributed to an issue with the cart manufacturer.
There are now a total of 3,340 of bear-resistant carts in use in the county, he said. That’s about 8.5% of FCC’s nearly 39,000 local customers. Customers can lease the carts for an extra $10 a month or buy one for $320.
Ashley Hobbs, a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologist who deals with local bear issues, asked commissioners in September to encourage the use of bear-resistant carts and take other steps to keep county residents from accidentally or intentionally providing bears with food. Bears are increasingly breaking into homes in the county or causing other problems because they associate humans with food, Hobbs said.
Pedersen said he has been meeting with Hobbs to discuss steps to make residents aware of the problem and is examining the use of bear-resistant carts in areas with the most issues with bears.
What to ask state government for?
Tuesday’s election results put county government in a good position to get legislation passed in the state General Assembly that would benefit Buncombe County, one of the county’s lobbyists in Raleigh told commissioners, and at least one commissioner thinks the county should push for state funding for one of its planned capital projects.
Commissioners discussed a draft list of changes to state law or spending they would like to see approved over the next two years. Possibilities include altering a state program that supplements teacher pay to ensure Buncombe County is eligible, increasing funding for services to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities and pursuing legislation to make it easier to use surplus state property for economic development or affordable housing.
Republicans will lose their current control of the state House in January because of Democratic victories Tuesday. Democrats are expected to occupy about 70 of the state House’s 120 seats next year while Republicans are likely to have a razor-thin majority in the state Senate, holding 26 of that chamber’s 50 seats. Some races are so close that the final outcome is still in doubt.
Given Tuesday’s results, Commissioner Parker Sloan said the county should make its list of asks for the legislature “the most aggressive one … we’ve ever created.”
Other commissioners had similar thoughts, although Commissioner Drew Ball said he prefers the term "ambitious, not aggressive” for the county’s legislative agenda. (Ball will leave the Board of Commissioners next month to become a member of Asheville City Council.)
Republicans have held significant majorities in both houses of the General Assembly since 2011. That has resulted in many instances of funds in the state budget being earmarked for projects in legislative districts represented by Republicans and policy disagreements between local government officials in the state’s urban, predominantly Democratic counties and GOP legislators. Each of Buncombe’s seven commissioners is a Democrat.
Buncombe commissioners might identify a construction or renovation project on the county’s capital plan that it could ask the state to fund, Sloan said, or identify a need that would dovetail with Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desire for more aid related to Hurricane Helene.
Ball said the county’s priorities could include providing state funds to match federal dollars for passenger rail service proposed between Asheville and Salisbury or money for a day shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
Whitney Campbell Christensen, a lobbyist for the county, told commissioners by video call that state legislators representing the county should be especially well positioned to wield power in the General Assembly over the next two years.
That’s due in part to their relative seniority in a House that will have a large number of freshman Democrats, she said. Christensen predicted that some Buncombe representatives will chair legislative committees in 2027-28.
In the past, “We’ve spent a lot of time playing defense on y’all’s issues,” opposing legislative proposals commissioners were against, Christensen told commissioners.
Over the next two years, she encouraged commissioners to, “Reach for the stars, because the political cards are very much in your favor.”
Etcetera
Commissioners also:
–Approved spending $527,250 to acquire conservation easements on farmland in Newfound and Alexander and $68,900 for preliminary work on easements the county will buy on farmland in Candler and Leicester. The easements prohibit most types of development on covered properties.
–Accepted a $1 million federal grant to enhance county services for offenders with substance abuse problems whose cases come before specialized courts handling drug cases.
More
Video of Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting is available here and supporting documents are here. Commissioners’ next formal meeting is at 5 p.m. Nov. 17 at 200 College St. in downtown Asheville. It will be preceded by a briefing at 3 p.m.
