City of Asheville Releases Proposed Budget

The City of Asheville released its official proposed budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. The proposed budget spends slightly over $256 million after a small property tax increase; this is about $6 million higher than the 2024-2025 amended budget.

Expenditure overview:

The draft budget proposes spending $256 million over fiscal year 2025-2026.

Here are some key highlights:

• General Pay Plan: 3.0% increase for all staff whose salaries are above the median pay of $58,000, and a $1,740 flat increase for those below the median.

• Police pay plan transitions to a new structure and the fire pay plan increases by 3.0%.

• The city reevaluated its capital improvement plan from a ten-year plan to a five-year plan, as it works to recover from Helene.

Revenue increases:

The proposed budget includes a potential property tax increase of 3.26 to 44.19 cents per $100 of assessed value, generating an additional $5.4 million. The proposed property tax increase funds the cost-of-living compensation adjustment, offsets the decline in sales tax post-Helene, and balances the budget.

What’s Next: Over the next month, the City Council will review the budget and receive feedback from the community. The Council will likely vote on this budget at its meeting in late June.