It’s now official: Buncombe County residents will vote on whether to approve $70 million in new government debt this November.
The county Board of Commissioners unanimously approved placing two special bond referenda on this year’s general election ballot. As it did in 2022, Buncombe is seeking $40 million for affordable housing and $30 million for “open space” initiatives like farmland preservation and park development.
“Our community has consistently prioritized land conservation and affordable housing with both our 2043 comprehensive plan and our 2030 strategic plan,” Commissioner Terri Wells told BPR. “Additionally, we must invest in our own recovery and utilize these bonds to leverage millions more investment in our community to ensure we protect our drinking water and natural resources and provide affordable housing for seniors and families.”
Only two community members spoke during public hearings on the bond referenda, both favorably. David Nutter, a board member with the pro-greenway nonprofit Connect Buncombe, said he was “utterly thrilled” by the scope of the planned open space investments. Susan Bean, housing and transportation director with the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue, said the two bond issues would work together to address Buncombe’s simultaneous housing and climate crises.
“The way to address both of these crises at the same time is to create more housing choices for people in the right places and to preserve our region’s farms and forests,” Bean argued.
According to opinion polls conducted for the county by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, a majority of Buncombe residents support approving both referendums. However, they appear to be less enthusiastic about borrowing now than they were in 2022.
During the previous bond cycle, 71% and 63% of polled voters respectively supported the open space and housing bonds. In the 2022 election, those two bonds ultimately netted about 69% and 62% of the vote. This year, the respective polling figures were 65% and 54%.
Melissa Moore, Buncombe’s finance officer, told commissioners that the total cost of principal and interest for the two bonds would come to about $111.1 million. That debt would be repaid over 20 years. The county estimates that the required annual property tax increase would be about $43 for a home valued at the county median sale price of $446,000.
Election Day this year is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Hurricane Helene recovery news
- The board unanimously approved a more than $1.8 million contract with ECS Southeast for landslide mitigation design and engineering work in Garren Creek. As noted by Kevin Madsen, Buncombe’s Helene Recovery Officer, landslides in the area covered over 72 acres and killed 13 people, the county’s biggest cluster of storm-related deaths. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will fully reimburse the county for the work, which is expected to take about eight months. Buncombe previously approved a $794,000 contract for similar design and engineering in Swannanoa’s Grovemont neighborhood.
- The county signed off on changes to the joint Buncombe Madison Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. In response to the lessons of Helene, said Brad Hughes with Buncombe’s emergency services, staff have updated the plan’s flood risk assumptions, placed more emphasis on infrastructure resilience, and analyzed future hazards, such as extreme rainfall and development pressures, in greater detail. The document positions the region for further FEMA funding and will help local governments coordinate their resilience investments.
Other tidbits
- Commissioners began the formal process for Buncombe County to assume full control of local air quality efforts, which are now overseen jointly with the city of Asheville. The move will maintain the county’s higher levels of regulation in the face of reduced federal funding, at an annual cost to local taxpayers of about $350,000. Public comments on the change can be submitted by email to Air.Quality@BuncombeNC.gov.
- The board recognized four Buncombe residents who earned the 2026 Governor’s Volunteer Service Award. Honored for their “concern and compassion for their neighbors,” the recipients were Lyndall Noyes-Brownwell with Friends of the Black Mountain Public Library, Betsy White with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Western Carolina, Kris Medic with Sand Hill Community Garden, and Anne Vilen with Pisgah Legal Services. Board Chair Amanda Edwards called the four “shining examples of what makes Buncombe County the best county in North Carolina.”
- The county approved a number of changes to internal staff policies. The biggest shift is the removal of comp time as an overtime pay option; instead all eligible employees would receive time-and-a-half pay when working over 40 hours in a week. Rafael Baptista, Buncombe’s director of strategy and innovation, said that change would help the county comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
- Buncombe accepted a $40,000 grant from the Dogwood Health Trust to support digital access. The money will cover laptops and charging carts at the county’s libraries.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners regularly meets every first and third Tuesday at 200 College St., Room 326, in downtown Asheville, beginning at 5 p.m. However, the board will take the first week of July off; its next next regular meeting will take place Tuesday, July 21. See the full recording and documents from the June 16 meeting.
