Members of Asheville City Council met with members of the legislative delegation to discuss allowing Asheville the privilege of voluntary annexation. Unlike all other North Carolina municipalities, Asheville is saddled with the Sullivan acts, which (1) prevent Asheville from charging differential water rates, (2) require all water system revenue to remain in the water system, and (3) require Asheville to provide water to anybody who asks for it, with no obligation on the part of the requesting party to consent to annexation. The Sullivan acts apply only to the City of Asheville and reportedly have their basis in history.
Senator Martin Nesbitt showed his prowess for deflecting the topic. Representative Bruce Goforth wanted to read some numbers he had brought along that didn’t pertain to much. Representative Susan Fisher genuinely begged for more information, but Nesbitt kept trying to derail her train of thought.
City council members didn’t want to go through another agonizing involuntary annexation process. CFO Ben Durant lamented the missed opportunity costs the city could have gotten if it could charge the average differential rate charged in the state (85%). City Manager Gary Jackson added that the city would have been able to save on debt service if it could invest that amount in capital improvements.
Like other joint public meetings with these two bodies, the conversation went nowhere. The press didn’t even bother to show up. The first half hour would have been spent watching the luminaries talk and eat bagels. The second hour and a half seemed a rehash of what the legislators pretend not to understand. It ended with Goforth asking council to get their stuff together in writing for an amendment to the bill that was left hanging from the last session. Council was of the opinion that the concessions the legislature offered in the first draft were useless. Councilwoman Holly Jones accused the legislators of changing the document on the way to Raleigh.
