News

THE TOP 10: Appreciation Nation, Conservation v. Construction

Nancy Diaz talks about Henderson County's 2045 comp plan during a MountainTrue presentation. [LIGHTNING FILE PHOTO]

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 27, 2023

Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Lightning's Top 10 newstories of the year. We're counting them down throughout the week.

7 Appreciation Nation

As early as the fall of 2022, Henderson County officials warned that the 2023 revaluation would bring a whopping increase in real property values countywide. Forecast: correct. Official number? Property values had spiked 48 percent since 2019, a number that thrilled sellers, startled buyers and sent taxpayers into nervous anticipation over the tax rate. Towns saw similar increases in their tax base —51.1 percent in Laurel Park, 52.7 percent in Mills River, 49.5 percent in Fletcher, 42.7 percent in Flat Rock and 38.8 percent in Hendersonville. County commissioners responded by adopting a revenue neutral tax rate, dropping the property tax from 56.1 to 43.1 cents per $100 valuation. If taxpayers hoped for revenue neutral rates, cities and fire districts did less well. Citing inflation, personnel costs and other factors, all five towns adopted rates higher than the revenue neutral number. Commissioners adopted the rates sought by the county’s 12 rural fire and rescue departments, all of which came in above revenue-neutral. Fire chiefs also cited personnel costs and inflation, plus the need for new equipment and capital projects.

6 Conservation v. construction

County commissioners devoted dozens of hours throughout the year massaging a vision for growth management covering the next 25 years. They even got homework assignments to recommend residential density, commercial use and industrial zones from community to community. (They were issued colored pencils, not crayons.) As the year ended, commissioners still had not taken a vote on the overall comp plan but had retreated in numerous instances from planning board recommendations to preserve open land, farms, forests and ridgelines. Speakers at Board of Commissioners meeting implored the elected leaders to heed the findings of their own survey: In more than 7,000 responses, county residents overwhelmingly favored conserving sensitive land and preserving the county’s rural character. Commissioners mostly ignored the pleas. Indeed, in official votes to change current land-use rules, they voted to ease restrictions on construction next to rivers and creeks and voted to mostly deregulate accessory buildings in residential zones.