News

County adopts $204M no-new-taxes budget

By Bill Moss, Published: June 22, 2024

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a $204.5 million no-new taxes budget on Wednesday after finding a way to increase the school budget while keeping the rainy day fund above a targeted percentage.

“The important thing is the county tax rate stays the same,” board Chair Rebecca McCall said Friday. “The county did not increase taxes.”

She noted that a recent report by WLOS-Ch. 13 showed that the property tax bill for a $400,000 home would be $1,700 in Henderson County, $2,000 in Buncombe County and $2,200 in Haywood County. Buncombe County and the city of Hendersonville both increased the property tax rate this year. Henderson County’s tax rate remains at 43.1 cents/$100 valuation.

Shifting money from other sources into the school operating account, Henderson County commissioners added $2.5 million to the overall school budget, which comes in at $36.6 million plus debt service of $11.6 million.

The changes to ratchet up the K-12 education budget close to the number the School Board sought came after numerous speakers implored commissioners to spend more on schools.

Legislators are “turning their backs on public schools and are now actively supporting legislation that is financially crippling our kids’ opportunities,” Joe Elliott, one of the speakers, said. Buncombe County’s teacher supplement is 53 percent higher than Henderson County’s and “starting salaries here are the lowest among eight Southeastern states.”

During discussion of the FY25 budget, Commissioner Bill Lapsley objected to the implication by some speakers that low teacher pay was causing a “mass exodus” of teachers.

“What I’m hearing you say is you have normal attrition, retirements, and you’re filling those positions,” he said to schools Superintendent Mark Garrett. “Ten vacancies out of 900 is not a huge movement of people from our county. I just don’t agree with the position that that’s a serious problem.”

Garrett agreed.

“When we look at the region, we’re one of the better districts in turnover rate,” he said.

The county’s 5.7 percent attrition rate ranks 23^rd in the state while the Henderson County teacher supplement is 25^th highest, Commissioner Michael Edney said.

McCall pushed for the changes that raised the school budget.

“We do have neighboring counties that have higher supplements than we do,” she said. “I have six grandchildren in the school system and one of my daughters-in-law is a teacher in the school system. That’s just to say that I do value highly our educators.”

Commissioners inched close to the maximum use of reserves to balance the budget, leaving the account at $22.9 million — $4,000 above the board policy of 12 percent of the total.

Elected officials’ annual salaries included in the budget:

• School Board chair, $4,500; other members, $3,600.
• Board of Commissioners chair, $33,075; other members, $26,460; plus
• $7,300 in travel expenses and $75 for each special-called meeting.
• Sheriff, $146,592.
• Register of Deeds, $103,241.