As an Asheville City Schools (ACS) parent, I’m seeing our schools be shortchanged and witnessing ripple effects in classrooms because the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners fears public blowback for a tax hike. This budget season, it’s up to them to correct taxation policies that have left ACS and Buncombe County Schools struggling to make ends meet.
The Board of Commissioners has been obsessed with keeping taxes revenue-neutral. People liked not paying more, and they hoped it would stimulate the economy. But our students and school staff have paid the price. People don’t stick around underfunded schools. After the double whammy of COVID-19 and Tropical Storm Helene, low taxes do no favors for students needing more supports. Students should not return to school in August with fewer resources than they had before the hurricane.
Our commissioners have two levers to fix their budget shortfall: the general countywide property tax and the supplemental Asheville City Schools tax. Used together, they can fund both school budgets without cuts.
Commissioners — especially those facing reelection or in new roles — worry about raising taxes after Helene. But consider:
• Property tax rates have been dropping. The Board of Commissioners has steadily cut the supplemental ACS tax rate. Today it’s less than half of what it was in 1981 — 25 cents per $100 of assessed property value. It was 21 cents in 1997, 20 cents in 2006, 15 cents in 2015, 12 cents in 2018 and has been 10.6 cents since 2022. In recent decades, the board also also cut the countywide property tax rate. In 2002, that rate was over 62 cents, but it was lowered to 52 cents in 2010 and 49.8 cents in 2024.
• Meanwhile, wealth in Asheville increased significantly. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2023 that median household income shot up 36% (to over $90,000) over five years. An influx of wealthy retirees, teleworkers and COVID/climate refugees changed our financial picture.
• Unemployment was only 2.6% until Helene hit and is now bouncing back.
• The Board of Commissioners already postponed property revaluations to 2026 to give taxpayers a break after Helene. There’s at least one more budget cycle before commissioners can factor the new valuations into budgets.
Commissioners can raise taxes now and reassess once the new numbers come in — hopefully after also overhauling the valuation system to make it more equitable.
Tourism dollars are coming back. Tourism analysts forecast a rebound this fall driven by travel demand and a potential increase in domestic travel. Visitor spending is expected to recover by 3.5% in 2025 and 5.2% in 2026.
Buncombe’s top property taxpayers are huge corporations: Mission, Duke, Ingles, Raytheon, Biltmore, Pratt & Whitney and New Belgium. Corporate shareholders don’t deserve another year of tax breaks at students’ expense. Our community’s needs trump their profit margins.
Buncombe’s children deserve a good education, and it’s their legal right. So let’s pay for it. The county Board of Commissioners should take all measures to fund no-cuts school budgets.
— Christina Mason
Asheville
Editor’s note: Mason adds that she is an Asheville City Schools district resident, Asheville City Association of Educators community supporter and a member of Families of Asheville City Schools and Public School Strong.
1 thought on “Letter: Students deserve no-cuts school budgets”
Mason, I assume you know that property taxes are the product of rate and assessed value. Talking about rate without acknowledging that assessments have soared is at best misleading.