After more than an hour of public discussion, 20 minutes of backroom meetings, and a 4-3 vote, Asheville City Council did approve a budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Yet the process revealed frustrations and disagreements among elected officials about how to handle city government’s finances.
The final budget comes in at about $275.6 million, supported by a property tax rate of 37.69 cents per $100 of assessed value. That rate is slightly lower than the 37.84 cents per $100 initially proposed by City Manager DK Wesley but is still 4.8 cents over the revenue-neutral tax rate, an increase of about 14.6%.
Asheville’s staffing, salaries and services remained largely unchanged from Wesley’s May 12 proposal. As supported by a majority of Council, consisting of Mayor Esther Manheimer and members Bo Hess, Sheneika Smith and Maggie Ullman, the main exception was resuming a 1% match for city employee retirement contributions at an estimated cost of $530,000…