Buncombe County faces $24 million hit over property tax reappraisal freeze

A state-imposed property tax freeze could force Buncombe County to absorb a $24.8 million hit, reopening a budget county commissioners approved only weeks ago and putting local services back on the table. The fight now sits squarely between Raleigh and Buncombe, with the county warning that state action could override the numbers it used to build its new fiscal year plan.

Senate Bill 889, the Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium, was signed by Gov. Josh Stein on June 19 as SL 2026-8 and is set to take effect July 1, the first day of the new fiscal year. The law would temporarily block counties that completed a 2026 reappraisal from using those new values for the 2026-27 budget year. Buncombe County’s 2026 reappraisal became effective Jan. 1, and the county said that appraisal lifted its tax base by 43 percent.

That increase came with serious political blowback. Buncombe began mailing reappraisal notices in February, and residents who showed up during budget hearings objected to what they saw as an unreasonable burden from the higher tax bills. Asheville Watchdog’s sampling found residential value increases ranging from 25 percent to 324 percent, including especially steep gains in historically Black neighborhoods such as Shiloh, East End and Southside, as well as Grove Park/Town Mountain.

County finance officials have said rolling back to older values could leave about a $2 million gap in the general budget, while earlier estimates put utility-tax losses at nearly $2.1 million. The county manager’s recommended FY 2026-27 budget projected $483.2 million in revenue, and commissioners adopted a $484.4 million budget on June 2, after already confronting Helene recovery costs, inflation and rising demand for services.

A revised version of Senate Bill 474 is being discussed as a narrow exemption path for Buncombe County, but it would still require the county to absorb a $24.8 million loss from its budget. BPR News has reported that lawmakers may force the county either to live with the moratorium or reopen its budget almost immediately after the fiscal year begins. Buncombe officials have also said the county and Asheville already adopted budgets using the new values, which means a state override would scramble calculations already locked into local spending plans.

For Buncombe County leaders, the dispute is no longer about appraisal notices alone. It is about whether Raleigh will let the county use the tax base voters and property owners were told to expect, or whether the county will have to cut, delay or shift spending to make up a hole that could land in the middle of the new budget year.