Asheville City Council voted to raise the city's property tax rate from 37.69 cents to 50.78 cents per $100 of assessed value, after new state legislation upended the property values the city's budget was built on.

How did we get here? Maneuvering a series of complicated state law changes earlier this week, Buncombe County opted to keep 2021 values and raise its property tax rate to 61.54 cents per $100 of assessed value, preserving funding levels in its previously approved FY2027 budget. The alternative — using 2026 property values — would've cut the budget by $25 million.

But back to Asheville, now. Because city tax rates are applied on top of county property values, the county's decision meant Asheville's already-adopted budget no longer matched the numbers it would be taxed against. The city was legally required to rebalance its budget, and sticking with its original rate under the older 2021 values would have cost about $28 million in expected revenue, according to city Finance Director Tony McDowell.

The new rate represents a net-zero change for the city, bringing in roughly the same $106 million in property tax revenue under 2021 values that the original rate would've brought in under 2026 values, keeping the $275.7 million budget approved in June intact.