From Staff Reports

The Asheville Police Department may soon get a $1 million budget increase, as a majority of City Council members expressed support May 15 to give the department more money, mostly to combat drugs.

Police Chief Bill Hogan initially asked for $2 billion, but council asked him to cut the budget.

The proposed compromise was supported by five council members, though no vote was taken at the budget work session.
However, Councilman Carl Mumpower expressed strong objections to the plan. Though he had called for possibly even more funding, he said that budget increases need to be tied to benchmarks for measuring police effectiveness.

Mumpower clashed with Vice Mayor Holly Jones, who was presiding over the session in Mayor Terry Bellamyís absence.

When Jones told Mumpower that his comment period was over, the councilman objected that he was being censored and walked out of the meeting.

Included in the new budget proposal are funding for two new officers in the west and central districts, one forensics technician, two telecommunications employees and one telecommunications supervisor.

If approved, the budget would increase law-enforcement spending from $16.6 million to $17.9 million. Additional funds would be spent on letting some officers take police cars home.

In other action, council:

ï Voted 5-1 to declare its intent to annex three areas in Buncombe County, including 440 acres of the Biltmore Lake subdivision in Candler. Mumpower cast the dissenting vote.

Residents of Biltmore Lake had protested the likely move, and some have threatened to sue and have sought help from state legislators to make involuntary annexation more difficult or impossible in North Carolina.

However, only one resident attended the meeting May 15 and she chose not to speak duing the public-comment portion of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Mumpower called involuntary annexation ìa way to kidnap people into the city.î

Other council members said they would prefer voluntary annexation, but noted that the city is bound by the Sullivan Acts ó state laws applicable only to Asheville that will not allow it to use city services as a way to persuade developments to come into the city.

ï Voted unanimously to approve the expansion of Biltmore Lake. Though it is not† part of the city, its proximity places the development under Ashevilleís zoning authority.

ï Unanimously approved the $22.2 million Asheville Regional Airport Capital Improvement Plan.
The plan includes $6.8 million in rental car lots and $5.9 million in terminal renovations.