Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Taxes in the news
WLOSers did a couple of property tax stories on Monday, so you know it must have been a damn slow news day. Still, what local governments do with taxes is important, soooo:
At 6, there was a story about a group of Weaverville residents preparing to confront town officials about why they didn’t lower Weaverville’s property tax rate. This year was a property revaluation year, see, and Buncombe County property values increased some 30 or 40 percent or more. Most of the time, local governments reduce the property tax rate to help offset that increase.
Michelle Boudin said people in Weavervegas were pissed because the property tax rate wasn’t lowered, and they wanted to know why. A town official told Michelle that it wasn’t lowered because the town has to have money to pay for services that residents want. And the town is building a new fire station. Stuff like that.
One other note – Montreat is the only other local government in Buncombe County not to roll back its tax rate, WLOSers said.
Then at 11, Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan did a story about how the city of Ashvegas had rolled its tax rate back, but didn’t roll it all the way back to a “revenue neutral” point. The city rolled it back to a point 1.38 cents above the old tax rate – a 1.38 cent tax increase. The new tax rate for the city is 42.38 cents.
Carolyn said the city had said it was going revenue neutral. So she put Ben Durant, the city finance director, on the spot by asking what was up. His basic explanation was somethiing about a “typographical error” in the city’s official budget document. His other explanation for the tax increase was something complicated, regarding how the city’s property tax rate affects how much state sales tax it receives, and if the city tax rate was any lower, that would have really hurt them with the sales tax distribution.
Got it? Us neither.
Speaking of taxes
Buncombe County is sending out property tax bills this week. You’ve got plenty of time to pay, but you’ll be seeing your new bill any day now.
In other news…
There was a trailer fire in western Buncombe County. Nobody was injured… A Candler man was arrested and charged with rape and kidnapping after he picked up a woman to give her a ride to Klondyke Apartments off of Montford… Julie Blunder gave us an update on the Blue Ridge Parkway rockslide. Basically, the rocks are still there and that part of the parkway is closed indefinitely… There was a gunfight at Ghost Town in the Sky as the new owners threw a little party and invited people up to see the old Maggie Valley amusement park. The new owners plan to re-open the much beloved Old West theme park… Jon Le went out to Biltmore Estate to pick apples with Brevard College freshman who were helping pick the apples to give to MANNA foodbank… Chimney Rock Park is still for sale… And Sheraldo said that the town of Brevard plans to open a trail to a new 400-acre park on Bracken Mountain. The town owns the mountain because that’s it’s old watershed. Town leaders are excited about offering such a great amenity.
