County Commission candidates make pitches at CIBO forum

The candidates for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners sparred over a recent tax increase, the budget and regulation of short-term rentals (STRs) at an Aug. 2 Council of Independent Business Owners meeting. The forum was hosted at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

Commissioner Amanda Edwards, a Democrat who currently represents District 3, is running against Van Duncan, who is unaffiliated, for chair, a post now held by Brownie Newman.

Commissioner Terri Wells, a Democrat who represents District 1, is running against Bruce O’Connell, who is unaffiliated.

Budget blast

The candidates outlined their stances concerning the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ June 18 vote approving a $440 million budget, which included a property tax increase. The expenditures that made it into the budget — and whether there was room for more budget cuts — was a theme of the forum.

Edwards and Wells defended the budget, noting repeatedly that the largest expense was education: $126 million, or nearly 30% of the budget, is shared among Buncombe County Schools, Asheville City Schools and A-B Tech.

Edwards blamed the lack of state public school funding as the reason the county had to try to shore up support.  “You are being taxed twice for public education,” Edwards told the audience. “And it’s because our legislators in Raleigh are not doing what they are constitutionally mandated to do, which is to provide a fully funded K-12 system across the state of North Carolina.”

“You should be angry that Buncombe County continues to have to increase our support for our two K-12 districts. They are phenomenal districts, and I am proud that we support them,” Edwards continued. “We do need to look at effective and efficient ways of better working with our two K-12 districts.” (Edwards noted at the forum that she is the spouse of Asheville High School principal Derek Edwards.)

Wells pointed out that funding for education and public safety were the only two increases in the FY25 budget.

O’Connell, who is the owner of the Pisgah Inn in Canton, criticized Buncombe County for having a “spending disease” and argued that if one looks closely at the budget, “the waste is there.” He proposed capping taxes for local residents and supported “look[ing] for alternative sources of revenue.”

Duncan, who was Buncombe County Sheriff from 2006-18, voiced his support for education, and he also said he supported budget cuts. “Out-of-control spending is unsustainable, so we’re going to have to look hard,” he said.

Listing priorities

CIBO President Buzzy Cannady asked each candidate to list what they consider to be the top three issues facing the county.

Edwards, who is executive director of A-B Tech’s office of college advancement, cited her top priorities as the economy and sustaining high-wage jobs, affordable housing, education, and supporting the community paramedics and co-responders within Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

Wells, who is a ninth-generation farmer, cited adapting to growth as the top issue, highlighting her efforts to increase access to high-speed broadband internet in rural communities. She then listed public safety (particularly support for EMS), education and the ability to earn a decent wage as priorities.

Duncan cited education as the top issue. “As was pointed out, education is a huge part of our budget,” he said. “So we’re going to have to make tough decisions around education to make sure that it’s sustainable moving forward and we give our kids the best education we can possibly fund.”

Duncan’s other priorities for the county include addressing homelessness, particularly homeless people who “refuse to go into shelter and live on the street,” he said. “We’re going to have to come to grips with a strategy that effectively deals with that population and moves them to a better place while we restore the ability of businesses to run and the ability of people to feel safe when they go downtown.”

As his third priority, Duncan cited budget cuts. “Where are we going to make the tough decisions to reduce that budget so we’re sustainable?”

O’Connell cited affordability and taxes, crime and security, infrastructure and education as the top issues. “Those things need to be dealt with first before we spend money on DEI, Pride parades and transgender bathrooms,” he said. “We can have those kinds of things once we take care of what matters most.”

According Buncombe County spokesperson Lillian Govus, the county is sponsoring a booth at Blue Ridge Pride Festival 2024 for $2,500 to promote public health education. Additionally, the county allocated $17,175 in a block grant to the nonprofit Blue Ridge Pride to support its Generation Plus program, which is for LGBTQ+ individuals over 60 to build social networks as part of an age-friendly action plan.

Buncombe County has paid for signage for gender-inclusive bathrooms and to cover up gaps in stalls, Govus says. That expense was “really a nominal cost” that was not substantial enough to require a line item in the general fund budget, she continued.

Buncombe County also allocated $520,200 for reparations in the FY25 budget.

Regulating short term rentals

Cannady asked the candidates if they would favor restricting STRs.

Wells said, based on her conversations with residents, the community supports some regulation of STRs. “But we want to make sure there’s no unintended consequences,” Wells continued. “So we’re looking at it very carefully. … There’s many people who utilize [operating STRs] to help provide them [with] some income to be able to afford to still live here.”

Duncan concurred that some regulation of STRs is needed. “The way to go about regulation, in my opinion, is do things that do not restrict people from being able to create some income to stay in their houses,” he said. “But at the same time, we want to make sure that we don’t have corporate interests that come in here, buy all our available housing and use it for short-term rentals.”

Edwards shared that she and her husband once relied on income from an apartment they rented in their home. “It is what paid our child care costs for five years,” she told the audience. “So when I hear from residents struggling, I understand, personally, that situation.”

She called STR operators “entrepreneurs” and lauded STR operators who offer “affordable, long-term rentals” to ease the housing burden. She voiced her support of improving “safety of those short-term rentals and ensuring the safety for the neighbors who are impacted by the comings and goings of short-term renters.”

The county established an ad hoc committee Aug. 6 to review STR regulations after a county Planning Board didn’t reach a consensus on the matter earlier this year.