Buncombe County manager presents FY26 budget with $16.8M gap; proposes 3.21¢ county tax increase

Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder and Budget Director John Hudson told commissioners at a May budget work session that the county’s second-pass fiscal year 2026 budget still shows a gap of about $16.8 million and would require a county property tax increase of roughly 3.21¢ per $100 of assessed value to close the gap if no further cuts are made.

Hudson said the draft expenditure budget would be $434.7 million, a 2.1% reduction from the FY25 amended budget, after staff identified about $2.4 million in additional revenues and approved $4.6 million in cuts and pauses to discretionary community investments. Those pauses include affordable housing services, strategic partnership grants, community recreation grants and a reduction in conservation easement funding, among other items.

The manager and finance staff described additional cost pressures that remain: new debt service tied to recent vehicle purchases, rising utilities and insurance, and…