ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —

Buncombe County commissioners trimmed the size of a property tax increase Tuesday and approved a $440,635,235 general fund budget for the new fiscal year.

Facing financial challenges like flattening sales tax revenues, inflation, rising labor costs and the end of Covid-19 relief funds, the budget relies on the use of prior years’ fund balances and the property tax hike to maintain services and give employees a 4.89 percent cost of living adjustment.

The approved property tax increase, from 49.80 cents to 51.76 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, amounts to a 3.93 percent increase. That’s smaller than the 5.12 percent increase contained in an original budget proposal County Manager Avril Pinder and her staff first presented in May.

Still, under the final approved version, county officials estimated owners of a $400,000 home will pay an additional $78.40 per year in taxes.

Commission Chairman Brownie Newman acknowledged that any increase has an effect.

Newman called this “probably the toughest budget I’ve worked on.”

“They’re all tough in their own ways, because there’s always more needs than we have resources to address them,” he said. “So we have to make tough decisions with ultimately finite resources, even if we are in a year where the commissioners decide to increase the tax rate.”

He said that’s “always a very difficult decision because it affects, you know, it affects a lot of people who are struggling in the community, right? It’s not just affecting tourists or the wealthiest folks in the community. It affects everyone in a real way.”

Of the 1.96 cent property tax increase, 1.21 cents will cover county operations and 0.75 cent will go to k-12 education.

Overall, education accounts for nearly $126.5 million of the $440,025,235 general fund appropriations, compared to about $96.7 million for human services, $95.3 million for public safety, $69 million for general government, $21.7 million for debt service, $11.3 million for culture and recreation, $9.7 million for economic and physical development and almost $10 million for other financing sources and uses.

Ad valorem (property) taxes are by far the biggest source of revenue: a projected $278 million of the $440,025,235 total.

The fiscal year 2025 budget (which takes effect July 1) includes 30 new positions in the general fund, scattered across multiple departments, and three in the solid waste enterprise fund, which is based on collected fees

A full copy of the budget and supporting documents are available at www.buncombecounty.org/budget.