Candidates on the midterm campaign trail in Buncombe County end up saying a lot of the same things. Those running for a role in Asheville city government, for example, praise “missing middle” housing and support for fully staffing the Asheville Police Department. Buncombe board hopefuls emphasize the need for the county to partner with other governments.
Many of those proposals are already underway in local government; the differences among candidates are matters of tactics, not strategy. But at the latest local campaign event — a well-attended Sept. 28 forum jointly hosted at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts by ArtsAVL, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, Asheville-Buncombe Hotel Association, and Go
Local Asheville — several candidates expressed plans for changing how the area’s affairs are run.
The forum featured candidates in the races for Asheville’s mayor and city council, along with the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. All were in attendance save for Buncombe District 2 candidate Greg Parks, who had a preexisting out-of-town commitment, and Council incumbent Sheneika Smith, who did not respond to the organizers’ invitation.
A tax for transit
In light of Asheville’s ongoing challenges with its bus system, two candidates signaled a desire to pass a new tax that would support transit.
Mayor Esther Manheimer and Council member Maggie Ullman, who are both seeking reelection to their respective offices, said they supported letting voters decide on a quarter-cent sales tax for transit. North Carolina law already allows counties to hold a referendum for such a tax.
“I would love to see the voters decide that issue,” said Manheimer. “It’s something that the county commission would have to put on the ballot, and I look forward to working with them, and other opportunities to try to move that forward.”
Ullman said she wanted to build “a coalition” to make the sales tax vote happen. “Right now, the transit service only works for some people. By investing more in transit, we could do that a lot better,” she said.
Rainmaking
Council candidate Jeffrey Burroughs had a different idea for boosting Asheville’s revenues: a “centralized grant department,” which would help city government get money for Helene recovery and other initiatives.
Asheville staffers, Burroughs said, have consistently raised their own limited time as a barrier to seeking outside funds. A dedicated group of city employees could instead pursue those opportunities, freeing up existing staff to implement programs.
“When you look at the very limited ways that our city actually makes money — which is why it always comes back to stress on property tax — this is an area where we’re literally leaving money on the table,” said Burroughs.
Extra police oversight
Council member Kim Roney, who aims to unseat Manheimer as mayor, named transparency as a cornerstone of her public safety strategy. She called for the city to “reinstate the Citizens / Police Advisory Committee to engage the public as truth partners” in matters of policing.
According to the city’s website, CPAC last met March 4, 2020, prior to the cancellation of all city boards and commissions meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee had previously provided a monthly venue for community concerns over the APD’s practices. During Council’s recent contentious debates over police technology, several residents suggested that discussions at CPAC could have led to better outcomes for the city.
Roney also backed data dashboards to assess public safety progress and “press conferences to help the community understand where we’re at with our plans and how to engage with solutions,” she said. Although APD already operates a number of online dashboards, several of them — including the overall Crime Summary Dashboard, Crime Trends Dashboard, and a “Response to Resistance” dashboard — were not functional as of press time.
Employer-based rental assistance
The lone Republican candidate on the stage was Rob Stetson, an Arden insurance agent running to represent District 1 on the county Board of Commissioners. His opponent is attorney Anna Stearns, a Democrat from Black Mountain.
Answering a question about support for locally owned businesses, Stetson suggested that companies could administer rental aid for their employees to encourage workforce retention. However, it was unclear who would be responsible for footing the bill.
“Why not allow the employers to distribute rental assistance to employees? The employees become more loyal to that employer, and the employer knows what the employee needs,” Stetson said. “They may not be able to afford to pay their employee enough money, but they can help them with rental assistance.”
Voting by mail is already underway in Buncombe County’s elections. In-person early voting in Buncombe County runs Thursday, Oct. 15, through Saturday, Oct. 31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Daniel Walton is the City Government Watchdog Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at dwalton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Candidates pitch transit tax, other proposals at Asheville forum
