BPR interviewed Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer this week ahead of the $530 million Helene-recovery legislation passage in the state General Assembly and asked her about everything from the city’s budget to why Asheville had to remove DEI language from a key federal disaster aid request.
Below are highlights from the conversation with Manheimer and BPR Host Helen Chickering.
Status of business recovery in Asheville:
“Some businesses are back — and others may never reopen.”
"We have a lot of businesses that are doing well, and they’re open for business, and we’re seeing a lot of visitors return to Asheville,” Manheimer said. “But we have others that have closed, and others that are temporarily closed that we hope will still be able to reopen.”
She said the city has worked hard to support businesses as they recover, but she acknowledged that disaster relief options are limited.
“You have the SBA — the Small Business Administration — that provides loans,” she said. “But a lot of folks are saying, ‘Look, I took out a loan during COVID, and I don’t want to take out another loan.’”
Instead, Asheville has been advocating for grants and other financial assistance.
“There are a lot of things in the works,” she said. “The city has been able to provide funds, philanthropic entities have provided funds, the state has provided some funds. We’re hoping that the state legislative package that’s pending now, that will be voted on either today or tomorrow, will include additional grant funds for businesses.”
She acknowledged, however, that navigating the process remains difficult for business owners.
“There’s a patchwork, I guess, that’s really the right way to think about it for folks,” she said. “But it’s tremendously frustrating for business owners to try to figure out all the information they need to know, all the opportunities they have to make those applications — and some of them aren’t successful.”
Shortfall in city budget:
Asheville’s financial strain extends beyond businesses. The city itself is experiencing a significant revenue loss due to the storm’s impact.
“We’re facing a $15 million revenue shortfall — and that has consequences.”
“There’s not a good program to provide revenue loss operating costs for cities and counties, school systems, fire districts, what have you,” Manheimer said.
“We have plenty of money coming in to rebuild roads, but these are public roads, parks, water infrastructure, those kinds of things. But we don’t have the funding to cover revenue losses. For example, the city of Asheville is tracking about $15 million of revenue loss for this current fiscal year.”
She said the budget situation was already challenging before the hurricane, but the storm made it worse.
“Even before this hurricane, cities were struggling,” she said. “After COVID, sales taxes flattened out, and now it’s even worse.”
Asheville is focused on maintaining its AAA bond rating, which ensures lower interest rates when borrowing for infrastructure projects.
“To maintain our fiscal health, we will have to raise taxes to some extent,” she said, confirming that a property tax increase is likely.
Communication, emergency management:
“Our response went well — but disasters like this are a learning experience.”
“The city did a lot of things right,” Manheimer said. “We rewrote our emergency operations procedures, trained everyone, and built the emergency operations center on Broadway, which we had just opened.”
The city quickly mobilized all 1,200 employees for disaster recovery.
“Immediately, every one of our 1,200-plus employees was reassigned to disaster recovery,” she said. “Whether you were already a frontline person working in search and rescue, or if you were in Parks and Rec or some other department, you were immediately reassigned.”
She also highlighted the role of communication in keeping residents informed.
“People could hear it — right here on this radio station,” she said. “As soon as they could get online, or turn their car radio on, they could hear those updates.”
At the same time, responding to a disaster on this scale was a learning process.
“One thing that has been a learning experience for me is the complexity of a disaster like this and all the federal pieces that it triggers,” she said.
She said she encourages other communities to prepare in advance by learning how federal disaster aid works.
“When FEMA lands in your community, when the Army Corps of Engineers lands in your community, when the EPA and the USDOT and all the different partners that need to help you arrive, you need to understand how that’s going to work and what information you’ll have to provide.”
On DEI opposition, changes to Asheville HUD proposal:
“HUD told us to remove the DEI language — and we had to make a choice.”
A more recent challenge in Asheville’s recovery came when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) flagged Asheville’s $225 million Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) over language related to the city’s Minority and Women-Owned Business (MWBE) program.
“The requirement of HUD before we can receive what’s called CDBG-DR funds — these are funds that are on top of all the FEMA recovery and rebuilding funds — is that the city and the state also have to prepare what’s called an action plan,” Manheimer explained.
“We have to submit that action plan to the community for comment, which is happening right now. And then we have to submit it to HUD for approval. And all those steps have to be followed before we can receive any of the allocated funds — $225 million in this case for the city of Asheville.”
The issue, she said, came down to a single reference in the plan.
“It’s a long plan,” she said. “And on page 76 of that plan, it referred to the city’s Minority and Women-Owned Business contracting program. A lot of cities have them.”
“That was what was objected to,” she continued. “So we removed the reference to the program, and we’ve been informed by the HUD staff that that is acceptable.”
Manheimer said the city received a direct email from the HUD secretary, which she described as polite but firm.
“We got an email from the HUD secretary,” she said. “And, you know, the email was very kind and expressed an eagerness to work with us and support our recovery, but reminded us of the president’s order.”
She acknowledged that the federal directive is still in legal dispute.
“Honestly, I believe it’s an order that’s in litigation,” she said. “But it was an order that the president signed, and so they said that they needed us to remove the reference.”
She described wrestling with the decision — whether to comply or push back.
“I talk to my kids about it,” she said. “I talk to my colleagues about it. Where do you fall on that spectrum? Do you scream and shout and get yourself kicked out of the meeting? Do you have a sidebar conversation?”
Despite political tensions over DEI, she said that every federal official who has visited Asheville in person has expressed support for the city.
“They come here, shake my hand, and say, ‘How can we help?' she said. “And then you see what happens on social media and in the press or on TV, and it’s almost like a completely disconnected world to me.”
For now, she said, securing recovery funds remains the priority.
“Asheville’s recovery is not just about fixing what was lost,” Manheimer said. “It’s about making sure we’re stronger moving forward.”
