Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: A few questions about the Biltmore Estate and its local relations: How much does the Biltmore Estate pay in city/county taxes? Does it have a special rate, or is it charged any differently than other properties? If so, to what degree could it be determined that local residents are subsidizing this business? Aside from attracting business revenue from the tourism it attracts and the tax dollars it adds to local coffers, how does the Biltmore Estate contribute to the local community?
My answer: It certainly has made major contributions to the local economy through its invention of the wallet extraction machine you pass through at the gate. That baby really makes it rain!
Real answer: I sent these questions to the estate and to the Buncombe County Tax Department. We’ll start with the estate.
Estate spokesperson Marissa Jamison said the taxes Biltmore Estate paid to Asheville, Buncombe County and the Town of Biltmore Forest in 2022 total $1.67 million
“The Town of Biltmore Forest tax breakout is $36,340, where we have a small amount of property that falls within their town limits,” Jamison said via email.
As far as community impact, Jamison said, “Biltmore supports critical community needs that are being met through nonprofits, selecting focus areas for philanthropy that are reviewed every three years.”
“This year, key partners include Homeward Bound, Habitat for Humanity, MANNA FoodBank, and Buncombe Partnership for Children to build capacity for more 0–3-year-old childcare slots in the county,” Jamison said.
Other estate partnerships include:
- A-B Tech Community College
- Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Children’s Welfare League
- Eblen Charities
- Isothermal Community College
- JFAC Scholarship Fund
- Mountain Housing Opportunities
- Society of Arboriculture SC Conference
- Western Carolina University
- Working Wheels
- All Souls Cathedral
- Basilica Preservation Fund
- Preservation North Carolina
- Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County
- Friends of the Smokies
- Muddy Sneakers
- Meals on Wheels
- Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
- N.C. Agricultural Foundation
- Organic Growers School
- OnTrack of WNC
As far as economic impact, Jamison cited an economic impact study from 2019, noting another is in the works and will come out in February.
“Economic data from a study produced for Biltmore in 2020 by Oxford Economics estimated Biltmore’s total economic impact in Buncombe County to be $620 million in fiscal year 2019,” Jamison said.
Buncombe County spokesperson Kassi Day said the Biltmore Estate does not have a special tax rate.
The Biltmore Estate’s real estate tax, which covers 13 separate properties and dozens of buildings within the 8,000-acre estate, totaled $1,330,546 for 2022, according to Eric Cregger, a tax systems analyst with the Buncombe County Tax Department.
The taxes paid include taxes paid to the county, to the City of Asheville and several fire districts the estate’s properties lay within.
The business personal property tax is even more complicated, as the estate has 21 different business entities. They range from the Biltmore Company and the Biltmore Estate Wine Co., to Biltmore Natural Resources LLC and Biltmore Equestrian Activities LLC.
In 2022, the estate paid $355,790 in business personal property tax, Cregger said.
He provided me with an extensive spreadsheet that details all the properties and taxes, including 2021 and 2022. If you’d like me to send it to you, drop me an email.
Update: You may recall that back in May I fielded a question from a reader suggesting the National Park Service was preparing to remove airplane wreckage from an area near Waterrock Knob. The Park Service was a little nebulous about it actually being removed, but reading between the lines you could tell it sure looked like it was coming out this summer.
Well, on Tuesday it did, via helicopter.
The Park Service announced contractors had removed the remaining wreckage of the Cessna 414A that crashed in November 1983.
“The crash site is on land that was donated to the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2016,” the release states. “Since that time, the site has seen a high volume of visitors accessing the wreckage via unauthorized social trails, causing concerns for the safety of hikers who can get lost and injured as well as severe damage to rare and sensitive species from trampling, erosion, soil compaction and vegetation removal.”
Visits increased in recent years, largely because of social media and information on various websites.
“While we understand the interest associated with this site, the resource damage and visitor safety issues presented too great a threat to take no action,” Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout said in the release.
The area, located on the Haywood/Jackson county border, has cultural significance to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and it is “one of four high elevation sites in the park where there is a concentration of rare and sensitive species, including Pinkshell azaleas,” the Park Service said. “In recent years, this area has also been the focus of a large-scale land conservation initiative in cooperation with and thanks to support from multiple organizations.”
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation provided funding support for the removal project.
Waterrock is a remote area, so a helicopter was necessary for removing the plane debris. The release noted that at the time of the crash, the plane’s engines were salvaged from the site, but the fuselage, wing, s and other debris were left.
Both passengers aboard the plane died in the crash.
Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941.