Asheville city seal

Council to consider reparation­s commission audit request Jan. 24

The reparations commission unanimously approved a recommendation for the city of Asheville and Buncombe County to “stop further harm” to the Black community by “ceasing the repetition of institutional processes that lead to racially disparate outcomes.” The audit is meant to ensure that such harms have actually ceased and that local governments are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Asheville city seal

Council to vote on water review committee Jan. 10

Asheville City Council will consider establishing an “independent review committee to analyze the events and circumstances leading up to, and throughout the duration of, the recent prolonged water outage.” The group would evaluate Asheville’s emergency response, identify infrastructure needs and recommend policy changes to make the city more resilient.

Asheville Primary School

City school board OKs Asheville Primary shelter plan

The Winter Safe Shelter program at Asheville Primary School, as explained by Counterflow Asheville, will prioritize families, LGBTQ people and residents who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. The shelter plans to operate nightly through the end of March, housing up to 10 people per night with space for another 10 support staff on site.

Keith Miller

Buncombe tries to fix its property tax appraisal system

An action plan county staffers presented to the Board of Commissioners Oct. 18 includes steps to help owners of cheaper homes seek reductions if they think the county has valued their homes too highly, to get property owners to report when they upgrade their homes and to refine some aspects of how Buncombe’s appraisers do their jobs.

Keith Miller

Buncombe taking steps to make tax values more equitable

The county plans to spend $844,000 on new tax assessment initiatives over this fiscal year and the next. Actions include asking Buncombe residents to report improvements to their homes, buying software to double-check the valuations county staffers give to homes and reaching out to residents to help them challenge their property tax values.

Buncombe County seal

Commission­ers to consider tax changes; higher STR rates off the table

Proposed changes on the agenda for the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18, include adding staff and improving software to make the county’s assessment of home values more accurate, asking state legislators to expand a tax break some homeowners get under state law and increasing efforts to tell homeowners how to challenge their tax value.

Entreprene­urs bring wellness opportunit­ies to Asheville area

Asheville may never have won an official designation as “city where you’re most likely to encounter someone wearing hiking boots in a bar.” Residents and tourists alike, however, know that this is a place where yoga pants, muddy Tevas and a reusable water bottle are practically the local uniform. One demographic that’s embracing this health- […]

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