Please be aware that the County Commissioners Meeting will occur this week on THURSDAY, May 19, rather than on its regularly-scheduled Tuesday evening. As of May 14, a proposed budget is not available in the May 19 agenda packet, but a budget presentation is on the agenda.
The Buncombe County Board of Education presented their draft budget at their May 5 meeting. They are requesting $73,161,308 from the County, and they plan to spend 24% more ($23,906,664) in the 2023 fiscal year than in 2022. Roughly $15,000,000 of the increase results from salary increases, and another $4,000,000 results from price increases in goods and services consumed.
ABTech is requesting a 6.22% increase over last year ($452,542) from the County to cover a pay increase for county employees, equity increases for the lowest-paid employees, and increased expenses for utilities. The college’s total asks for 2023 stands at $ 8,178,142.
Asheville City Schools plans to ask the County Commissioners to approve $33,215,172 in funding.
We expect County Manager Avril Pinder to propose a budget of $394,686,705 for FY2023. The FY2022 budget (after amendments) was $388,651,320 – so this proposed budget asks for $6 million more than last year. Commissioners have been clear that they want to see their $16 million in pet socialist spending projects reflected in an approved budget:
From the materials provided at the May 10 budget workshop meeting, we know that Pinder Expects to have the material available online on Thursday. We also know there will be a public hearing on the proposed budget during the June 7 Commissioners Meeting, with budget adoption slated for the June 21 Commissioners Meeting. Of course, we know that Joseph Stalin will be unable to attend any of these presentations, but we expect that he will be there in the hearts of the commissioners when they approve the final budget.
