Citing budget woes, staffing issues, Asheville, Buncombe schools request budget boosts
ASHEVILLE - Faced with issues including depleted staff and possible future cuts, Buncombe and Asheville City school administrators are asking county government for big boosts in fiscal year 2023 spending.
Leaders with both systems came before Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to ask for millions of dollars in budget increases at a May 10 budget work session.
Administrators from each system are dealing with separate budget issues, they said.
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Buncombe County Schools requested a $23.9 million increase — $15.2 million for increases to salaries and benefits and $8.6 for non-negotiable items and fund stabilization.
The system is having issues filling vacancies, according to Superintendent Tony Baldwin. Buncombe especially needs to fill empty classified staff positions, or school employees who don't need certification.
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BCS has 745 staff supported exclusively by local funds out of about 3,170 employees. It recently hired consultants to identify employee salary needs and report back to the board.
"I'm going into my 14th year as superintendent," Baldwin said. "This is the biggest ask I've come up here for. I'll also tell you, in my career, I've never seen a time when it's needed more."
Asheville City Schools requested a 2.5% increase over the prior year, including an additional $600,000 earmarked for pre-K and a 2-cent increase of the special district property tax rate.
The ACS board recently approved a $33.2 million 2023 budget and reiterated May 10 they'd need to make $3 million in cuts to staff through fiscal year 2025, reduction of service and consolidation of facilities if they didn't receive that full amount from Buncombe.
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is requesting $7.7 million for salary increases to match state increases, utilities Increases, continued realization of energy savings and 6.22% increase in costs from the previous fiscal year.
The requests are large compared to previous years, and commissioners have yet to decide how much they'll approve, especially given schools don't yet know the full amount of funding they'll receive from the state government.
They discussed a number of avenues for funding schools per the requests. But commissioners wanted more information as well, especially regarding city schools. ACS Superintendent Gene Freeman, board Chair James Carter and Chief Financial Officer Georgia Harvey presented the budget request.
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"This is the budget we need to operate," Carter said in a May 4 news release anticipating the commission work session. "And, if it is not received, we'll be forced to make added cuts."
If county commissioners approve the funding for ACS, an increase in funding — which amounts to about $3 million, according to Harvey — will be used to meet local expenses as well as statewide retirement rate increases and rising insurance costs.
Buncombe County government's budget is in its second-pass phase and will be finalized by June 30.
Commissioners will review a recommended budget at their May 19 meeting.
The 2023 fiscal year starts July 1.
Since the county's April 26 budget work session, there has been a net increase in the proposed budget of $584,943.
Currently tThe proposed 2023 budget is about $394.6 million and would keep the current property tax rate the same.
The fiscal year 2022 budget, by comparison, is $388.6 million.
Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville, Buncombe schools request budget boosts amid staffing woes
