Buncombe County’s Board of Commissioners will soon face a difficult quandary: Just how ambitious should county government be about its infrastructure spending in the years to come?
As presented by county finance staff during a January 22 work session, the answer to that question could lead Buncombe to deploy over three times as much money on capital projects from its general fund than it currently does — up to $66.1 million by fiscal year 2031-32, versus $18.3 million this fiscal year.
Supporting all of those projects, from repairs on county parking decks to the construction of new greenways, would require property taxes to rise by nearly 6 cents per $100 of assessed value. That works out to a nearly 11% increase over the current rate of 54.66 cents. The resulting bill for a home valued at $350,000 would be roughly $2,120, about $207 more than the current amount…