Public hearing held on Buncombe County’s proposed fiscal year 2024-25 budget

June 5, 2024 — Community Bulletin

At its June 4 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed FY25 budget. No speakers registered for the public hearing. The FY25 budget across all annual funds is recommended at $628 million. The General Fund, the largest annual fund recommended at $441.9 million, includes:

$126 million for education
$95 million for public safety
$96 million for human services

The recommended budget includes a 4.89% cost of living adjustment for County employees based on a two-year average annual change in the Consumer Price Index – Urban Wage Earners & Clerical Workers. The recommended budget includes 30 new positions in the General Fund and three new positions in the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. Figuring a 1% increase in expenditures, the recommended budget includes a $3.7 million operating reduction for County departments from the FY24 amended budget and draws on $10.3 million in savings utilizing personnel strategies. The budget is balanced with an appropriation of $11.7 million of unrestricted fund balance and recommends a property tax rate of 52.35 cents per $100 of assessed property value, an increase of 2.55 above the current rate, generating $13.6 million in additional revenue. Of that increase, 1.8 cents is for County operations and .75 cents will fund an increase to the local current expense for public K-12 schools. This increase on a home assessed at $400,000 would be an additional $102 in annual property taxes.

Of note, the FY25 recommended budget amounts for annual funds include:

General Fund budget of $441,905,358
Occupancy Tax Special Revenue Fund budget of $40,000,000
911 Special Revenue Fund budget of $927,067
Opioid Settlement Fund budget of $3,314,860
Insurance and Benefits Fund budget of $45,222,516

The proposed budget will be voted on by the Board of Commissioners at its June 18 meeting. To view the full budget presentation, click here.

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