At its June 22 meeting, Asheville City Council voted 6-1 to adopt an annual operating budget of more than $200 million for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The budget, which supports everything from public transit to housing infrastructure to water services, will go into effect on July 1.

Highlights include: $8.7 million in new city spending + an emphasis on reparations, public safety, and increased compensation for city employees. Plus, in order to fund these measures, there will also be an increase on the city property tax rate (more on that below).

We know municipal number crunching is not everyone’s cup of tea — so we sifted through all the numbers on your behalf to bring you a summary of the most important budget deets. 👇

The budget by the numbers:

$31.5 million for the fire department
- $583,000 of that will go to hiring 15 new firefighters
$29 million for public safety
- $42,000 of that will go to officer trainings associated with reimagining, including de-escalation, “verbal judo,” crisis intervention training + more
$13 million for parks + recreation
- $450,000 of that will expand evening + weekend hours at recreation centers
$13 million for transit services
- $1.1 million of that will go towards implementing the Transit Master Plan
$7.9 million for a 2.5% pay increase for city employees (including police officers + firefighters)
$5.2 million for development services
- $110,000 of that will fund 2 new positions: a Noise Compliance Officer and a Compliance Coordinator
$2.1 million for reparations (funded by the sale of city-owned land)
$150,000 for a joint city + county homeowners’ tax assistance grant program
$150,000 for small-scale neighborhood grants

The new property tax rate is lower than previous years, but is 3 cents over a revenue neutral rate. | Screen grab from City of Asheville

Other important deets:

40% of the city’s total revenue, aka ~$80 million, comes from the property tax.
In the initial budget, property taxes were slated to increase by 3 cents per $100 in valuation. After receiving community input, the increase was lowered to 2 cents.
Local homeowners will see an average $350 tax bill increase come July, as a result of the city and county property tax increases.

We know the annual city budget can be confusing — after all, the finished document is 110 pages long. If you have any further questions about the 2021-22 budget, please don't hesitate to send us your questions, and we'll do our very best to provide an answer. 🤓