Voters in Buncombe County, N.C., approved $70 million of new local bonds for affordable housing and open space, clearing the way for a municipal debt sale that county officials say will cost the median homeowner a few dozen dollars a year.
Unofficial returns showed the $40 million housing question passing with about 58% support and the $30 million open-space question with about 64%, HERE Asheville reported. Over the life of the bonds, including interest, the package is projected to cost about $111.1 million. Officials have cited the county’s AAA credit ratings as a reason borrowing costs should stay low.
Housing and land
The housing bond is expected to add roughly $25 a year to the tax bill of a median homeowner, while the open-space bond adds about $18 a year. Housing proceeds are earmarked for affordable units; open-space money is slated for conservation easements, parks, greenways and trails in a county that includes Asheville and surrounding mountain communities still rebuilding from recent storm damage.
Next door, Henderson County voters separately approved a $25 million farmland-preservation bond with about 59% in favor, extending the week’s local borrowing theme beyond Buncombe.
Part of a wider North Carolina wave
The Buncombe results follow a stronger night for local bonds in Charlotte, Raleigh and Wake County, where voters cleared about $1.46 billion of city and school borrowing. Unlike some suburban measures that failed elsewhere in the state, Buncombe’s housing and parks questions cleared comfortable majorities without the bitter tax fights seen in a few neighboring counties.
For more local business coverage, see HERE Asheville Business.
