The City of Asheville has anxiously been waiting to see how pending legislation to create a regional parks authority would come down. It was hoped economies of scale could be achieved at least by consolidating administrative costs.
Well, if one thing is certain about the current legislative assembly it is that they will keep Asheville city council off-balance. This time, Representative Nathan Ramsey amended HB 418 to prevent any municipalities in Buncombe County from participating for two years. In other words, things can continue status-quo except citizens will be paying an additional 7-cent tax for county business to gain the name “regional.”
This cannot be considered an act of terrorism, because nobody is taking credit. Ramsey blamed the county commissioners, and they said they had nothing to do with it. Municipal governing bodies had been rather eager to get on board. To date, the amended legislation has passed the House and sits in committee before advancing to the Senate.
