It’s that time of the year again—budget time—when the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners begins its decisions on how your tax dollars will work. The process begins at tomorrow’s board meeting, with county staff presenting a budget meant to tackle tough economic times—without raising taxes.
The proposed $313 million budget for the fiscal year 2009-10 keeps the county’s current tax rate of 52.5 cents per $100 of property value and is $5.9 million less than last year’s budget. The budget assumes 5 percent cuts from all departments and will remove 86 county positions.
“We are operating in uncharted waters,” declares a letter from County manager Wanda Greene, introducing the budget.
Greene declares that throughout the budget process, she and other county staff have aimed to preserve core services, but “there seems to be little relief in sight” and the state of the economy isn’t expected to truly recover for over a year.
The commissioners will meet at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, at 30 Valley St. A short pre-meeting review of the agenda items starts at 4:15 p.m.
— David Forbes, staff writer
