At its June 13 meeting, Asheville City Council adopted its 2017-18 fiscal year budget, which sets a property tax rate of 42.89 cents per $100 of taxable property value and includes funding for 15 new police officers to create a dedicated downtown police unit, as well as $630,000 for expanding the city’s transit system.
Asheville City Council will vote on the city’s 2017-18 budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1. New pedestrian safety measures for Fairview Road, an affordable housing development on city-owned land and a strategy aimed at allowing Asheville residents to control the method used for electing representatives to City Council are also on the agenda for the Tuesday, June 13 meeting.
A changing climate, aging infrastructure and rapid rates of development are contributing to a rising tide of stormwater problems in Asheville. But responsibility for stormwater infrastructure often rests with private property owners, complicating the process of planning and paying for fixes.
Activists dominated the May 23 public hearing on Asheville’s proposed 2017-18 fiscal year budget. The group $1 Million for the People opposes Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper’s request for $1 million in additional funding to hire 15 new officers for a new downtown policing unit.
Asheville City Council will hold a budget worksession at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23. Immediately after the worksession, Council will hold its regular meeting at 5 p.m. During the regular meeting, Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed city budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year.
At its May 9 meeting, Asheville City Council grappled with the challenge of creating a city budget in a time of plenty. “Oddly,” said Mayor Esther Manheimer, this year’s budgeting process has been more difficult than during the recession. Council asked City Manager Gary Jackson to tweak his proposal to achieve a property tax rate that reflects a revenue-neutral rate plus 3.5 cents to pay for interest on the city’s $74 million bond program.
If you want to attend Asheville City Council’s May 9 meeting, arrive early. Between a response from the Police Department to a recent report on racial disparities in policing to the first presentation of the city manager’s proposed budget for the 2017-18 Fiscal Year, there’s a lot on the agenda that could be of interest to a variety of city residents and advocates.
Asheville City Council will consider the results of a poll that show 54 percent of city voters support keeping elections for the Council as they are now — and the same percentage would vote yes to change them if asked by a referendum. Council meets at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11 at 5 p.m. At 3 p.m., Council will hold its final work session dedicated to the 2017-18 fiscal year budget.
Signs of spring: the city considers its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and citizens amass their forces to resume the fight over the fate of city-owned land on Haywood Street and Page Avenue. Asheville City Council will meet on Tuesday, March 28 to consider these and other matters. The budget meeting will take place at 3 p.m. in Council Chambers, with the formal meeting commencing at 5 p.m.
Asheville City Council pondered the effect of an average 25 percent increase in the value of property in the city, along with the impact of a $74 million bond referendum, at its first of three work sessions dedicated to drafting the city’s budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year on Tuesday, March 14.
