ASHEVILLE — An update on the status of the Buncombe County property tax revaluation was presented to the Asheville-based Council of Business Owners during an early-morning breakfast meeting March 14 in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

The revaluation report was presented by Eric Cregger, the county’s interim tax assessor. He spoke for about 15 minutes and then fielded a barrage of questions from attendees of the pro-business group’s meeting for another 15 minutes.

The meeting also included a report on the status of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s I-26 Connector through Asheville by Nathan Monyham, an NCDOT construction engineer. (A separate story on Moneyham’s CIBO presentation appears to the right of this story, which focuses on Cregger’s report.)  

About 75 people attended the gathering that was preceded by a buffet breakfast. followed by the hour-long formal program. 

The emcee was Steve Foster, who, while noting that he is simply a member of the CIBO Board of Directors, said he would be stepping up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance, the prayer — and to moderate the meeting.

The attendees then recited the Pledge as follows: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  

At the end of the Pledge, Foster added with a note of concern, “We hope!"

After leading the prayer, Foster, who is a certified public accountant, prompted some chuckles for the attendees when he said — in a playful-but-humble vein, “You get third-string today... I’m just the treasurer (and a board member) with CIBO. All the ‘higher-ups’ are out today. So that leaves me” to run the meeting.

Foster then introduced Cregger, who began his presentation by noting that, “right now, we’re in the extended period for tax collections.”

He added that “Reappraisal 2025” was delayed on Oct. 15, 2024 because of issues raised and damage wreaked througout Western North Carolina and a lot of Upstate South Carolina by Tropical Storm Helene, which devastated much of the area on Sept. 27.

Eventually officials agreed that a new reappraisal should go out on Jan. 1, 2026, reiterating that “we had to delay reappraisals due to the unknown effect Hurricane Helene.”

Cregger added that “over 5,500 real estate parcels were affected” by Helene.

“This week (mid-March), those (18,000-plus) notices (for Buncombe) just hit the mailboxes to residential and commercial real estate owners...

“If you have questions, call our office first before challenging a reappraisal” higher up. “We want to get it right — the best that we can” from the Buncombe Tax Assessor’s office before anyone considers filing an appeal.

Among the reasons Cregger listed for value changes in non-appraisal years are damage assessments, reported changes, mapping changes, property transfers, data audits and site visits

Rhetorically, Cregger then asked, “So why are we doing a reappraisal this year? We’re required to by statute…. And it needs between 85 and 115 percent of value.”

He reiterated, “We were going to do it in 2025, but it got delayed” because of Helene damage. Historically in Buncombe, Cregger said, reappraisals have been conducted every three years, “but this time, it was later.”

As for reappraisal recommendations, he noted that “it’s always about data…”

Regarding the reappraisal timeline for 2025, Cregger said, “Right now, our focus is setting April and May as the dates for appeals before the Board of Equalization and Review — after going through us again...If you don’t like the decision that the board made, you can appeal to Raleigh... Typically, the appeal period ends at the end of May.”

During a question-and-answer period that followed, CIBO member Mac Swicegood asked, “Could you speak about the floodplain maps and how they’re affecting your adjustments?”

“Yes, there is an adjustment for floodplain maps,” Cregger replied

A unidentified man at the meeting lamented, “We’ve been (adversely) affected by the pandemic and then Helene?” and then asked Cregger how he sees the situation.

‘I’m seeing after Helene not much difference” in property valuations, Cregger answered. “But I am not seeing as many transactions in the flooded areas.”

The questioner then asked the interim tax assessor, “So the market is resilient?’

Cregger replied, “It feels that way — at this point....”

Meeting attendee H.K, Edgerton, a Southern heritage activist, queried, “Who determines what is a ‘disadvantaged community?’”

Cregger said Edgerton was referring to a report in which someone took “demographic information from close to 3,000 parcels... He said it’d be good to get out there and actually do site visits... What we do is look at sales. We take ‘like' properties and group them together. They’ll be adjusted to what’s being sold in that area.”

An unidentified man asked, “Why hire a reappraisal consultant?

Cregger answered, “I have no idea what they’ve quoted us yet... But we want to get an outside expert to look at everything.. Sometimes you get so focused on your area that you get ‘tunnel vision.’ I want to make sure we get the best market values that we could possibly get....”

CIBO member Mark Delk then raised the issue of “about (property) values being based on race and national origin….”

In response, Cregger said, “So the reappraisal consultant won’t use that information in the report to which Delk had alluded.

Cregger added, “That was from an equity analysis that we used to make sure in a 2021 reappraisal that we didn’t use that....”

An unidentified woman asked, “How much do you think those who had storm damage versus those with storm damage” were reappraised?  

Cregger answered, “So, if you didn’t have any storm damage, it’d still be reappraised in the same way, Now, those damaged by the storm — those values will be projected downward... I can’t give you a percentage just yet... 

“I can tell you on real estate, there will be a lower amount of growth... But the tax rate is determined by our county commissioners. I can tell you if you haven’t made any improvements and you weren’t affected by the storm, it will the same,” Cregger replied, as the Q&A session ended.