ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Asheville City Council is expected to give final approval Tuesday evening to the city’s $275.6 million budget, setting spending priorities for the coming fiscal year while leaving no opportunity for additional public comment before the vote.
Council members are scheduled to consider adopting the annual operating budget during their 5 p.m. meeting at City Hall. Although the budget hearing drew public input in May, city officials have confirmed that no further comments from residents will be accepted before the final vote.
The proposed budget calls for a property tax rate of 37.84 cents per $100 of assessed value, 4.95 cents higher than the revenue-neutral rate.
The spending plan reflects months of discussions between city staff and elected leaders over how to balance rising costs with community needs. Among the priorities highlighted by council members are employee pay, public safety staffing, affordable housing and services addressing homelessness and addiction.
Councilmember Bo Hess said he plans to continue advocating for what he sees as critical investments in Asheville’s future, including bringing city employees to a living wage, maintaining a fully staffed public safety system and expanding access to affordable housing programs.
“My final budget meeting with the City Manager’s Office was Friday, and I appreciate the many months of hard work that staff, Council, boards and commissions, community organizations, and residents have invested in this process,” Hess said in a social media post ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Hess also pointed to efforts to address abandoned properties, support neighborhood stability and strengthen assistance programs for workers, small businesses, artists and nonprofit organizations.
Councilmember Kim Roney, however, raised concerns about how the proposed budget addresses employee compensation.
In a social media post, Roney noted that while the budget includes cost-of-living adjustments for city employees, the approach differs from last year’s plan. Instead of providing flat-rate increases designed to help lower-paid workers move closer to a living wage, this year’s proposal relies on percentage-based raises.
“Unlike last year when we used a flat-rate raise that brought more entry-level staff closer to living wages based on the cost of housing, this year’s budget will include higher percentage raises for staff in the higher pay range while we lag farther behind in a living wage minimum,” Roney wrote.
City documents note that a public hearing on the spending plan was held May 26 and that “no further public comment will be taken.”
Tuesday’s agenda also includes a quarterly update on Tropical Storm Helene recovery efforts and a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the city’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Action Plan.
That hearing would reallocate $19.2 million to Asheville’s single-family home repair program, increasing the total funding for the initiative to $22.2 million. The proposal would reduce allocations for multifamily new construction and infrastructure projects.
The Asheville City Council meeting begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
