Taxpayer Brief · City of Asheville
Where your city tax dollars go in FY2027
The City of Asheville budget for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 — the one in effect now
Adopted June 9, 2026 (4-3 vote) · Prepared 2026-06-29 · Updated 2026-07-16: county reverted to 2021 values; city rate amended to 50.78¢ on 2021 values at the July 15 special meeting (now final) · Adopted figures
This is the budget that actually governs the year ahead. Asheville is spending $275.8 million across all funds, up about 7.5% from last year, and it raised property taxes again to close a gap left by inflation, rising debt and healthcare costs, and the still-unfolding costs of Tropical Storm Helene. The council split 4-3 over it.
Update — July 15: the county reverted to 2021 values; the city amended its rate to 50.78¢
A new state law forced Buncombe off its 2026 revaluation and back to 2021 property values for this year's bills. On July 14 the county amended its own rate to 61.54¢ on that older base, and Asheville City Schools to 11.75¢. Because the city taxes the same county tax roll, the City of Asheville had to re-set its FY2027 rate on 2021 values too. At a special council meeting on July 15, 2026 it did, amending the rate to 50.78¢ — the figure that raises the same revenue on the older, lower 2021 values that the 37.69¢ set in June would have raised on the shelved 2026 values. The city figures below now use the amended 50.78¢ rate on 2021 values; the county and schools rates are the amended 2021-value rates adopted July 14.
Read the tax rate carefully — it is an increase
The city set its rate at 37.69¢ in June, priced on the 2026 revaluation the state has since shelved. When bills reverted to 2021 values, the city amended its rate on July 15 to 50.78¢ to fund the same budget on that older, lower base. The honest yardstick is that amended rate against last year's 44.19¢ city rate on the same 2021 value: on an unchanged assessment the city share is up 6.59 cents, about 14.9%. That is close to the $20 a month more the city had estimated for a typical home.
Estimate your bill — inside the City of Asheville
For a home inside the City of Asheville — city + county + Asheville City Schools on the amended 2021-value rates (city 50.78¢ adopted July 15, county 61.54¢ and schools 11.75¢ adopted July 14), a combined 124.07¢ per $100. Most city addresses fall in the Asheville City Schools district. Excludes exemptions or deferments and separate stormwater/solid-waste/water fees. An estimate — use your actual 2021 assessed value and bill.
Where the general fund goes
The general fund ($187.5M) is the part of the budget your taxes mostly pay for. The city has not yet posted its adopted department-by-department breakdown, so the split below is by type of cost (from the recommended budget). The clear point: it is people-heavy.
Personnel (pay + benefits) dominates the general fund — about 60 cents on the dollar per the city's finance director (up to ~64 counting overtime); the recommended split above runs a touch higher. Public safety has been the largest service area in past years; the city has not published an exact FY2027 department split.
The other roughly $88M of the $275.8M all-funds total is mostly the enterprise funds — chiefly Water Resources and stormwater, billed on your utility statement, plus parking — which run on their own fees, not the tax rate. Capital is the exception, and it is tax-supported: the city's multi-year capital program (parks, infrastructure, affordable housing) is funded in part by voter-approved GO bonds, and your property taxes repay that debt over time. That repayment is part of what the general fund's Capital & debt line above carries. This brief centers on the tax-supported general fund.
Where the money comes from
These revenue and spending line items are from the recommended budget; the city's adopted line-item detail is not yet posted and will be finalized in the adopted budget book. The manager's plan already included about $9M in cost cuts (the items under "what got cut," below) to close the year's gap; Council's own changes were modest — trimming the rate from 37.84¢ to 37.69¢ and restoring the 401(k) match — and may shift the exact splits. The firm, adopted figures are the $187.5M general fund and the rate: council set 37.69¢ in June on the 2026 values, since amended to 50.78¢ on 2021 values after the state freeze.
What's new — and what got cut
- Fire (AFD): funded for an hourly pay increase, a new 4th shift, and a REST team.
- Police (APD): a personnel-budget reduction of about $380,000.
- Pay: a 2.8% cost-of-living raise; the council restored the 1% 401(k) match (~$530K) the manager had proposed cutting.
- Cuts to balance: 16+ vacant positions eliminated; community-center hours rolled back toward pre-COVID levels; less mowing, litter pickup, and landscaping; the annual public-art fund contribution paused.
Housing, shelter & neighborhoods
- A dedicated affordable-housing staff position, a funded Neighborhood Matching Grant Program, and a city contribution to the Buncombe County Homeowner grant program.
- The city is working on added support for Code Purple cold-weather sheltering, plus bus service with an on-site crisis counselor.
- On the capital side, $20 million for affordable housing sits in the voter-approved 2024 GO bonds (one of four $20M program areas in the $80M package), being programmed now across the multi-year capital plan and repaid by your property taxes — separate from, and larger than, the operating housing lines above.
- Watch item: the recurring $500K Housing Trust Fund contribution looks to have stayed paused (the council restored the 401(k) match but did not publicly restore the HTF line). The bigger housing money is federal — $225M in CDBG-DR Helene recovery, separate from this budget.
The bottom line for a taxpayer
You are paying more this year — about $20 a month on a typical home — and the city is spending it mostly on people: firefighters, police, and the staff who run city services, while trimming hours and upkeep at the margins. The state freeze moved bills back to 2021 values, so the city re-set its rate to 50.78¢ on July 15 to fund the same budget; measured against last year's 44.19¢ on the same value, the city share is up about 14.9%.
How the rate got here — the state reappraisal freeze
A state law, SB 889 (signed June 19, 2026), froze the 2026 county revaluation for a year, pushing Buncombe back to old (2021) values. A follow-up, SB 474 (Session Law 2026-47, signed July 7, 2026), would have let the county keep the 2026 values only at a revenue-neutral rate of about 40¢ — a roughly $24.8 million cut that would have swept in the city and the county's other towns (municipalities losing about $289,000 more). On July 14, 2026 the county chose to bill on 2021 values instead, amending its rate to 61.54¢. Because the city taxes the same tax roll, the 37.69¢ council set in June — priced on the now-shelved 2026 values — had to be re-set on the 2021 base; council did so at a July 15, 2026 special meeting, amending the city rate to 50.78¢ to raise the same revenue on the older, lower values. The 50.78¢ figures here are the settled city bill; the 37.69¢ was the June rate on 2026 values.
Sources: City of Asheville FY2027 budget adoption release (June 9, 2026); FY2027 recommended budget staff report; Blue Ridge Public Radio, WLOS, 828 News Now, Mountain Xpress, Carolina Journal; revenue-neutral and rate figures from the city and WLOS. Department-level dollar detail will firm up when the adopted budget book posts. Reappraisal freeze and rate reversion: Buncombe County News Flash No. 1049 (July 14, 2026); Mountain Xpress and Public Radio East, July 15, 2026. City rate amendment: City of Asheville and WLOS, July 15, 2026 — at a special meeting the council amended the FY2027 city rate to 50.78¢ on 2021 values (from the 37.69¢ set in June on 2026 values), the rate that raises the same revenue the adopted budget assumed. County (61.54¢) and Asheville City Schools (11.75¢) are the amended 2021-value rates adopted July 14. Independent summary; not affiliated with the City of Asheville. Updated July 16, 2026 for the city's amended rate on 2021 values.