Reporting by Will Hofmann, Asheville Citizen Times
ASHEVILLE – North Carolina Republican state legislators have pushed for a property appraisal moratorium in nine counties across the state, citing rising costs and weary taxpayers anticipating higher bills during the 2027 fiscal year.
But as an amended moratorium passed the General Assembly June 30, local officials, Democratic state legislators and tax professionals have described the possibility of a moratorium in Buncombe County as benefitting luxury homeowners and unevenly impacting community members.
Sen. Tim Moffitt, a Republican who represents parts of Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, confirmed to the Citizen Times July 6 that he helped draft and pass the legislation and an analysis of his properties in Buncombe indicates he will pay less in county taxes under the moratorium. At the same time, roughly 44% of property owners would pay more in taxes — not less — under a tax rate proposed by the county to keep its $484 million budget under the moratorium, according to a Citizen Times analysis.
Passed on June 30, Senate Bills 889 and 474 have forced Buncombe County to revisit its 2027 fiscal year budget and gauge whether it wants to maintain its 2026 appraised values and go revenue neutral or revert to 2021’s values but maintain its already passed budget by raising tax rates. Revenue neutral would mean the county would neither decrease nor increase its financial intake from property taxes compared to the 2026 fiscal year. The bills have generated confusion, hesitation and frustration among county elected officials and municipal leaders.
Buncombe is the only county that is offered a specific, restrictive exemption to the moratorium in SB474. The narrow exemption requires the county to go revenue neutral rounded up to the closest cent and would lead to over $24 million in budget cuts, according to estimates from Buncombe County. Presented to Gov. Josh Stein on July 2, it was signed into law July 8.
“When I signed Senate Bill 889, I called on the General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 474 to protect Buncombe County and other jurisdictions recovering from Hurricane Helene. The version sent to my desk does not do that. Instead, it continues to impede Buncombe County’s recovery efforts,” Stein said in a July 8 statement regarding the bill.
Buncombe County Commissioners have called a special meeting for July 14 to amend the budget but have not signaled which direction they will take. The city of Asheville has scheduled a meeting for July 15 to “consider tax rate adjustments,” a July 8 public notice said.
In a July 2 Facebook post to Asheville Politics, Rep. Lindsey Prather said who she believed crafted the amendment to present the two paths: Republican Sen. Warren Daniel, who represents Buncombe, Burke and McDowell counties, and Moffitt, who represents Henderson Polk, and Rutherford counties, but owns land in Buncombe.
“Your anger should be directed at Sen. Warren Daniel, Sen. Tim Moffitt, and the other Republicans in Raleigh who refused to stand up for WNC,” Prather wrote, noting that Buncombe was the only county impacted by Tropical Storm Helene not previously omitted from the bill.
Buncombe County Commission Chair Amanda Edwards told the Citizen Times July 7 that she attempted to call Moffitt about the bill, but he “did not ever return my call.” County officials have warned the moratorium may impede its ability to recover from the storm.
In a July 6 statement to the Citizen Times, Moffitt confirmed he “supported and helped advance” the legislation. Daniel was the conference chair for the bill in the Senate, where he has served eight terms. Moffitt served two terms in the Senate and three terms as an N.C. Representative.
The provision limiting Buncombe to go revenue neutral “was about basic fairness and preventing an unchecked tax increase on families and small businesses still reeling from the storm,” Moffitt said, describing the measure as protecting “constituents from excessive burdens during recovery.”
Prather went on to say that Moffitt drafted the legislation as he tried “to save a few hundred bucks in property taxes.”
He called Prather’s statement “false and unfortunate.” Moffitt’s properties include a collection of parcels held by SCCP, LLC that were rezoned to become a 304-unit housing development by Asheville City Council in 2025.
Moffitt denied the allegation, but according to a Citizen Times analysis of his South Asheville properties using a proposed tax rate under the moratorium, he stands to save $2,316 in county taxes under the moratorium rather than being taxed under the originally proposed 2027 fiscal year budget.
“Even with the new valuations, I will pay more under either scenario — not less. Personal tax savings were never a factor; I had not even calculated my own numbers when these decisions were made,” Moffitt told the Citizen Times.
On July 7, Prather said she was out of the state and not able to respond to Moffitt’s statement.
Moratorium will likely impact homeowners unevenly
If the county decides to fall under the moratorium, keep its budget and enact a 63.89-cent per $100 tax rate proposed during a May 5 budget meeting, not all property owners will save money under the state legislated property appraisal moratorium. For a home in the county priced at $446,000, which was the median sales price for the first quarter of 2026, a homeowner would pay 2,849 in county taxes a year.
Based on a Citizen Times analysis of county tax costs using a sample of 25 single-family homes in Oakley, Shiloh, West Asheville, Montford and Biltmore Forest and only using county tax costs, only 14 saved money using the proposed tax rate under the moratorium compared to staying under the already approved schedule of values.
One homeowner in Biltmore Forest would be expected to pay over $3,700 more while another, in Shiloh, would pay $6 more in taxes. Average savings among the sample properties was just $60, with the highest savings, another home in Biltmore Forest, at $2,129.
But if it decided to keep its budget, the county would also be postponing its measures to increase equity that stem from a period of reform in the tax assessor’s office. The 2021 schedule of values was criticized by residents of Asheville’s historic neighborhoods and by urban development professionals as unequally burdening low-income neighborhoods with taxes while cutting luxury homeowners a break, the Citizen Times reported.
After Joe Minicozzi, the founder of the Asheville-based urban development firm Urban3, presented his analysis of the 2021 reappraisal process, Buncombe launched the Ad Hoc Reappraisal Committee, which studied the county’s appraisal practices and produced an extensive report examining processes and producing recommendations.
That report was followed by a $60,000 study in 2024 from Keene Mass Appraisal Consulting, which called the county’s appraisal process “blind and fair,” but noted “distortions” that led to undervalued luxury appraisals and overvalued manufactured home appraisals. That year, the county said it would revisit how it values luxury properties, the Citizen Times reported.
During the county’s July 2 press conference, Edwards described SB889 and SB474 as protecting luxury homeowners who are “subsidized by modest- and low-income residents” and forcing the county to use “outdated market values.”
Now, the county has to decide whether to temporarily abandon the work done in the 2026 appraisal year and keep its budget, or face service reductions and “perpetuate inequity,” Minicozzi told the Citizen Times. Going to revenue neutral might be the most equitable decision for the county to make, Minicozzi said.
If the county went revenue neutral and kept its values, most properties sampled — 19 of them — would still pay more than they did in 2025 taxes, but all would save money compared to the already approved rates for fiscal year 2027. Average savings compared to fiscal year 2027’s pre-moratorium rates came in at $333.
Opting for revenue neutral would require the county to cut $24.8 million from its budget, or roughly 5%, which would “negatively impact” services and programs in Buncombe, County Manager Avril Pinder said during a July 2 press conference. Costs were already expected to increase as state and federal legislation put additional burden on the county government to pay for social services, the Citizen Times reported.
“These are tough choices, but a 5% trimming would send a strong message that we value equity — that we value fairness in the tax system,” Minicozzi told the Citizen Times.
Moffitt, who would pay less under the moratorium than under the proposed 2027 fiscal year tax rate, stands by his decision to support the bill, he told the Citizen Times.
“I am proud to stand up for limited, responsible government that prioritizes affordability and recovery over ever-increasing budgets. I will continue advocating for meaningful property tax relief and reforms that actually help the people of District 48 and Western North Carolina,” Moffitt said.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com or message will_hofmann.01 on Signal.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times.
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