The City of Asheville is moving closer to creating a Business Improvement District. This was the major thrust of Goody Clancy, the Massachusetts firm hired in the long-ago to create a downtown master plan for the city.
The BID is a special taxing district. Property owners in the downtown area will pay an additional 7-cent levy. On top of that, the city and county would spend $150,000 each to help pay the salaries of eleven downtown ambassadors charged with tending to public safety and sanitation issues. Not to worry. An economic analysis indicates:
The BID could boost property-tax revenues in the district by about 2 percent a year, and sales-tax revenue by 5 percent.
The city can no longer concern itself with providing core services downtown for two reasons: (1) It has annexed more turf than it can handle, and (2) It has extended its role into too many extra-curricular, “strategic” roles, not the least of which is doing its part to save the planet.
According to Councilman Jan Davis and inquiries made by the Mountain Xpress, the extent to which loyal subjects want this service is “unclear.”
Efforts are under way, added [chair of the Downtown Management Subcommittee Susan] Griffin, to get “the largest property owners on board.”
