Asheville tax hike advances with garbage fee increase

ASHEVILLE – Elected officials gave an initial OK to a property tax hike and garbage fee increase this summer.

There was no official vote, but a majority of City Council members said Tuesday they support a proposed 1.5-cent tax increase and a $3.50 rise in the monthly garbage pickup fee. The anticipated $2.8 million in new revenue would replace a business fee to be eliminated by the state and would reduce the city's general fund subsidy for the solid waste program.

Council members held a budget workshop in which they talked about scenarios with different levels of tax and fee increases as well as cuts to city programs. Support for the increases came from five of the seven-member council: Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice Mayor Marc Hunt and council members Cecil Bothwell, Jan Davis and Gwen Wisler.

Manheimer called it "a challenging decision" but said recent changes by state legislators, including the planned elimination of the $1.5 million business privilege license fee, make it necessary "to afford the services our citizens need."

"I worry about the future of our budget with the variables in play at the legislature, and we can't afford to hedge at this point," the mayor said.

Councilman Gordon Smith didn't offer support or opposition but blamed state legislators for the pressure behind a tax increase, saying the General Assembly is cutting traditional revenue sources for cities and giving tax cuts to the wealthy. One measure considered would take sales tax revenue from counties that generate a lot of the tax, such as Buncombe, and send it to poorer counties.

"This is by design a tax shift coming from Raleigh," Smith said. "We're seeing an ongoing systemic strangulation of revenue sources."

Councilman Chris Pelly voiced the only opposition, pointing to a 3-cent increase increase two years ago — though Pelly said he might be later swayed.

"The history has been, once it goes on there, it doesn't come off or rarely comes off. I might be there later. But I'm not there now."

Any tax or fee increase would happen when the city passes its budget with a final vote planned June 23.

Along with replacing the privilege license fee, the increases could fund new city initiatives. One of the biggest initiatives is $1.7 million in raises for city employees, many of them police officers.

Smith said more police pay is "a really high priority in this budget." City law enforcement has been suffering morale problems and is undergoing an overhaul after the dismissal of hundreds of traffic tickets because of expired radar guns, an examination by the state Department of Justice and the retirement of former police Chief William Anderson.

City tax, garbage fee hike: impact on you

Property tax

Now: 46 cents for every $100 of assessed property value

Proposed: 47.5 cents

Impact: An additional $15 for every $100,000 of value. The owner of a $200,000 home or business, for example, would pay $30 more annually.

Garbage pickup

Now: $7 a month.

Proposed: $10.50

Impact: $42 more a year.