The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners continues to discuss specifics for the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, which runs from July 1, 2024-June 31, 2025. On April 23, Commissioners held their second work session concerning the spending plan. Since the previous work session, County staff has made some adjustments to the expenditures and revenues. As it stands, the second-pass budget decreased expenditures by $18.5 million while adding $4.2 million in revenue updates. That brings the totals for the proposed FY25 budget to the following:
- Total expenditures: $444.9 million
- Total revenues: $416.5 million
For additional information on the specifics of expenditures and revenues, click here.
Emergency Management Services (EMS) and education follow-up information from the previous work session
EMS
Staff presented updated information on the proximity of EMS bases throughout Buncombe County. All EMS are embedded in fire stations, except for EMS at 35 Woodfin. In an effort to have the fastest possible response times, EMS staff is looking to see how it can collaborate with existing fire departments.
The following are the EMS base need locations as outlined by staff:
- South Asheville near Biltmore Village
- Downtown Asheville
- West Asheville
- Skyland
- Black Mountain
For more information about EMS base locations and a map of locations, click here. There were no immediate budget requests associated with the EMS needs.
Education
Per state law, the County is obligated to cover facility requirements and local current expense funds that help with operations, salary supplements, and other expenses. The Asheville and Buncombe school districts are set to present their funding requests next month. Meantime, Commissioners received a brief overview of recent education spending. Some key drivers include:
- Enrollment dropped 6.5% during FY21 and has remained steady every year since.
- Buncombe County’s education expenditures to the local K-12 school systems from FY21 to FY24 have increased by 38%.
- As of FY24, Buncombe spends just over $5,000 per pupil (excluding capital), which is the third highest in the state based on the data available.
During a May 9 work session, both school districts and A-B Tech will present Commissioners with specific funding requests. For additional details on education presentation, click here.
Fee schedule changes
For the FY25 proposed budget, Commissioners are considering several fee changes. Among those looking at new fees are Emergency Services, Ag & Land, Permits & Inspections, Parks & Recreation, and Planning. Some of those proposed fees include:
- ABC License Inspections - $100
- Zoning Vested Rights of $100
- Grass Field Rental for a nonprofit, school, or government organization - $20 per hour
For a complete list of proposed fee schedule changes, click here.
FY24 year-end projections
County staff is projecting the current fiscal year (FY24) revenues will be $1.5 higher than expected, with property taxes looking to be about $2.3 million more than anticipated. For expenditures, the projection has the County spending about 97.7% of the FY24 budgeted expenditures up from 95.9% of prior actuals for FY23. For more information and charts for the FY24 year-end projections, click here.
Financial outlook
The County’s financial outlook is based on the following assumptions:
For revenues:
- That there is no change to the current 49.8-cent property tax rate
- Reappraisal growth in property tax base in FY26 and natural growth in FY27
- 4.5% and 5% growth in sales tax in FY26 and FY27, respectively
Other revenues: 3% to 8% annual growth (varies by source)
For expenditures:
- 9% growth in expenditures in FY26 and 5% growth in FY27
Based on those assumptions, this is the County’s financial outlook:
*Note: FY2026 includes the 2025 reappraisal.
To learn more about the financial outlook, click here.
Market analysis overview
In July 2023, the County contracted with Evergreen Consulting to conduct a market analysis to help Buncombe County evaluate current salary trends and ensure its salaries are competitive comparted to peer counties.
The following are the findings from the marketplace analysis:
- The structure of the salary plans offered by the County are transparent and consistent in design.
- The plans generally follow best management practices
- The pay ranges for non-exempt classifications are somewhat narrow. (40% spread rather than recommended 45-55%)
- Some compression was identified between employee and supervisor pay.
- Most County employees (62.7 percent) are paid less than 80 percent of their supervisors’ salaries, which is best practice.
- 34.2 percent of employees are being paid within 80 to 95 percent of their supervisor’s salary.
- The survey results indicated that the following classification’s salary grades were more than 10% below market mid-point.
- Librarian
- Public Safety Call Taker
- Due to the varied complexity in the Social Work and Investigative Social Work function, this classification was recommended to be broken into two separate classifications.
- To ensure alignment with the market recommendations, we are recommending classification adjustments for the Librarian and Public Safety Call Taker classifications.
- The Public Safety Call Taker classification salary grade will be increased from 2001 to 2003.
- The Librarian position salary grade will be increased from 2004 to 2005.
You can read more about the market analysis overview here.
Embarking on a New Five-Year Strategic Plan
Following the budget work session, Commissioners continued building out key priorities for the County’s next five-year strategic plan and reviewed results from the 2024 Community Survey. The new strategic plan will build on refine priorities and goals outlined in the 2025 Strategic Plan.
Next steps
If you would like to watch the April 23 budget work session, it can be viewed at facebook.com/buncombegov.
Here are the next steps in the budget approval process:
- May 9: Education & Fire Districts Work Session, 200 College St., first floor conference room
- May 21: Recommended Budget, 200 College St., third floor Board chambers
- June 4: Public Hearing, 200 College St., third floor Board chambers
- June 18: Budget Adoption, 200 College St., third floor Board chambers
To help build out the 2030 Strategic Plan, the County will seek staff and community input throughout May. Dates, times, and locations will be announced shortly.