Taxpayer Brief · Buncombe County

Where your county tax dollars go in FY2027

The Buncombe County budget for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 — the one in effect now

Adopted June 2, 2026 (unanimous) · Prepared 2026-06-29 · Adopted figures

After a brutal, austerity FY2026, the county is spending again. The FY2027 general fund jumped more than 10% — to $484.4 million — largely to restore the cuts Helene forced last year and to fund schools, EMS, and human services. Commissioners passed it unanimously and raised the tax rate to pay for it.

$698MAll county funds+~12%

$484.4MGeneral fund+10.3% vs FY26

43.20¢Tax / $100 value+3.98¢ over revenue-neutral

~$2,160County tax, $500K homeon 2026 value

Read the tax rate carefully — it is an increase, not a cut

The rate looks like it dropped sharply (54.66¢ last year to 43.20¢), but only because the 2026 revaluation raised home values sharply and unevenly — the countywide tax base rose more than 40%, and individual homes varied widely by neighborhood. Measured honestly, the county set the rate 3.98 cents above the revenue-neutral rate of 39.22¢ — a real increase of about 10%. Because your home's assessed value also went up, your actual bill likely rose more than the rate alone suggests.

Where the general fund goes

Unlike the city, the county's big jobs are schools, public safety, and human services — together about 71 cents of every general-fund dollar.

Education / schools$137.3M · 28%

Public safety$106.3M · 22%

Human services$100.1M · 21%

General government$72.4M · 15%

Debt service$28.4M · 6%

Transfers to other funds$15.4M · 3%

Culture & recreation$12.9M · 3%

Economic development$11.7M · 2%

Schools rose ~$11M, the biggest single increase. Human services (social services, public health, aging, veterans) holds at ~$100M. A-B Tech gets ~$19.2M.

Where the money comes from

Property tax carries roughly two-thirds of the county general fund — which is why a revenue squeeze translates straight into a rate increase.

Property tax — about $335 million (the dominant source)
Sales tax — about $46 million
Permits & fees — about $25 million
State & federal — about $7.5 million (down — commissioners cited falling state/federal revenue as a budget pressure)

Revenue figures are from the adopted Annual Funds Ordinance, rounded to the nearest million.

What it costs you

Assessed home value (2026)	County tax (43.20¢)
$300,000	$1,296
$400,000	$1,728
$500,000	$2,160
$600,000	$2,592

These are illustrative round values — use your own 2026 assessed value (an individual bill is the rate times your value). County tax only. The county's aggregate tables show $2,161 for the $500K example, reflecting its 99.5% collection-rate assumption. If you live in unincorporated county you also pay the new Unified Fire District (11.96¢); inside the Asheville City Schools district you also pay 8.64¢ for schools; city residents add the city rate on top.

Estimate your bill — unincorporated Buncombe

Your 2026 assessed value

County (43.20¢)$1,728

Unified Fire District (11.96¢)$478

Estimated annual property tax$2,206

For unincorporated Buncombe (county rate + the unified fire rate, 55.16¢ per $100). Excludes any city/town rate, the Asheville City Schools district, exemptions or deferments, and separate stormwater/solid-waste fees. Based on adopted FY2027 rates; subject to the SB 889 outcome above. An estimate — use your actual assessed value and bill.

Housing, food & human services (where the county does the heavy lifting)

Affordable housing — $13.4M authorized: Harmony Housing on Coxe Ave ($9.8M construction loan), Ferry Road II senior housing ($1.25M), Asheville Habitat repairs ($600K), Mountain Housing Opportunities ($500K), Eblen down-payment help ($400K). These are Affordable Housing Services Program authorizations funded by a mix of the affordable-housing GO bond, general fund, and housing-trust program income — not single general-fund line items.
Food access: MANNA FoodBank ($170K for Southside food access), Food Connection ($84K), Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture ($38K).
Human services: Early Childhood Education grants ($4.05M), Isaac Coleman economic grants ($500K), and $1.2M in safety-net / behavioral-health grants (Haywood Street Respite, All Souls Counseling, WNC Community Health, and more). Over $11.7M in discretionary community investment overall.
Honest caveat: demand far outran dollars — many homelessness-prevention, transitional-housing, food-access, and behavioral-health requests were marked "not recommended for funding."

What's new in FY2027

Restoring last year's cuts is the theme — FY26 was the Helene austerity budget; FY27 builds services back, "structurally balanced" (one-time money only for one-time costs).
28 new positions (adopted, trimmed from the recommended count); a 2.71% cost-of-living raise for staff.
Capital: two new EMS bases (EMS West ~$16.6M), an Emergency Operations Center design, a 911 center design for FY28, three library renovations; plus a $37M Helene recovery grant.

The bottom line for a taxpayer

You are paying about 10% more in real terms, and you are getting more county government for it than last year — schools funded, EMS expanded, human services restored. The headline rate looks lower only because your home was revalued; in real terms it went up. The county does the region's heaviest lifting on housing, food, and human services, but even at $484M the requests outnumber the dollars.

One asterisk on the rate (likely to resolve in the county's favor)

A new state law, SB 889 (signed June 19, 2026), freezes the 2026 revaluation for one year and could force the county to revert to old values and reset this rate. A fix, SB 474, would exempt Buncombe and is moving — it passed the House 111-1 and is widely expected to pass. The county is waiting on it before issuing final guidance; if it fails, the county has said it would re-brief the budget after July 1. Tax bills mail in August.

Sources: Buncombe County FY2027 Adopted Budget in Brief and Annual Funds Ordinance; FY2027 budget adoption release (June 2, 2026); Blue Ridge Public Radio, WLOS, Mountain Xpress. Function and revenue figures (and the $698M all-funds total) are from the adopted ordinance and Budget-in-Brief. Housing and human-services amounts draw on a mix of general fund, bond, and program-income sources. Tax-cost examples are county tax only, on 2026 revalued values. Independent summary; not affiliated with Buncombe County.