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Asheville staff say FY27 budget faces $14.2M gap after bonding costs; GEO-bond debt service built into projection

Asheville City Council (work session) · March 24, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City finance staff told council the FY2026-27 general fund faces a projected $14.2 million gap after adding estimated GEO-bond debt service of $6.5 million; staff outlined options including a phased tax-rate increase, use of fund balance and program cuts.

Tony McDow, finance director, told the Asheville City Council at a March 24 work session that staff currently estimate a $14.2 million gap between projected revenues and expenses for fiscal year 2026–27 after accounting for rising personnel and operating costs and the full debt service on voter-approved general obligation (GEO) bonds.

At the meeting McDow said voters approved $80 million in GEO bonds in November 2024 and staff estimate annual debt service on those bonds at about $6.5 million. "That would…

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