Buncombe County Submitted: March 19, 2026 | Updated: March 19, 2026

[See Editor’s Note] (March 2026) Submission related to “(March 2025) Buncombe County Government – Request for Property Tax Assessment Delay Information”

Date sent in to Sunshine: 03/11/26

Original Subject:
(March 2025) Buncombe County Government - Request for Property Tax Assessment Delay Information

Original Message:
Dear Buncombe County Public Records Custodian,
Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law, I request copies of all emails, including attachments, sent or received December 1, 2025, and March 9, 2026, by, between, or copied to any of the following:
-Buncombe County Manager Avril Pender
Buncombe County Tax Assessor Eric Cregger
-Each and all seven members of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners
-This request includes communications among those individuals, communications with staff acting on their behalf, and communications sent through County accounts, personal accounts, text-to-email platforms, or any other medium used to conduct public business.
I specifically request all records concerning, referencing, discussing, or relating in any way to the timing, scheduling, preparation, approval, mailing, release, withholding, postponement, or delay of property tax assessment notices to Buncombe County property owners.
Without limiting the scope of this request, it includes all records concerning:
when assessment notices would be sent or released;
whether assessment notices would be delayed, postponed, staggered, or otherwise held;
reasons for any delay or change in timing;
any discussion of the impact of notice timing on appeal rights, appeal windows, deadlines, informal review opportunities, or taxpayers’ practical ability to contest assessments;
any discussion of the impact of notice timing on public comment, attendance at meetings, public criticism, media coverage, political response, or organized opposition;
any discussion of whether later notice timing would reduce the time available for property owners to appeal, prepare, organize, or address the Board publicly;
any concern about the public reaction to assessments or the strategic timing of notice distribution;
any decision, recommendation, or approval regarding the date notices would be sent;
any records sufficient to identify who proposed, discussed, approved, or implemented any decision regarding the timing of assessment notices.
For avoidance of doubt, I am requesting not only records that explicitly use words like “delay” or “postpone,” but also records that would reflect the substance of such discussions, including references to timing, rollout, send date, release date, coordination, communications strategy, appeals, taxpayer response, board meetings, or public comment.
This request also includes records sufficient to show:
-the final decision on when notices would be sent;
-who participated in that decision;
-who had authority to approve or change the timing;
-whether any elected official, county manager, assessor, or staff member requested or recommended that notices be sent later than originally planned;
-whether any records exist analyzing or discussing how the timing of notices could affect the public’s ability to appeal or comment.
Please search all locations reasonably likely to contain responsive records, including email archives, deleted or retained folders, archived mailboxes, shared drives, and devices or accounts used for County business.
If any portion of this request is denied, withheld, or redacted, please identify each withheld record or category of record with sufficient particularity to allow the basis for the withholding to be evaluated, and state the specific legal grounds for each denial or redaction. If portions of a record are exempt, please produce the non-exempt portions.
If you contend that no responsive records exist as to any part of this request, please state that affirmatively.
If this request is considered broad, please construe it in the manner most favorable to disclosure rather than withholding, and produce records on a rolling basis as they are gathered.
I request that responsive records be provided in electronic format (.pdf).
Thank you.

Government Entity:
Buncombe County

Start Date / End Date:
December 01, 2025 - March 09, 2026

Editor’s Note: Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.

Editor’s Note 03/19/26: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”.

1) As written, we find the request to be overly broad / unclear.

In particular. The sender indicated in the “Start Date / End Date” field that the responsive records should cover a 3 month period“December 01, 2025 through March 09, 2026″. However, the written Message indicates they’re only requesting info from two specific days: “… all emails, including attachments, sent or received December 1, 2025, and March 9, 2026.”

– It is important what you’re requesting is specific and reasonable. Please specify the exact records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched.

– When requesting communication records, it’s important to specify the exact type of communications (such as emails, text messages, etc.) being requested, who the communications are “sent to”, “sent from”, or “sent between”, and any specific people / staff / departments etc. that should be included. It’s also important to include a specific date or time period, and any specific subject matter or specific keywords that should be included in the search.

– We recommend limiting communications requests like this to cover a three month time period, or shorter. Remember that the larger the request, the more time it takes to fulfill. If you’d like to request records over a larger time frame, then please include more keywords, to / from addresses etc. to limit the number of responsive records.

– Clarifying this info will help to greatly narrow the scope of the request, and will also reduce the amount of time it takes the Disclosing Agency (as well as our team) to process the request.

2) It would also be helpful if the sender clarifies whether they’re explicitly asking that emails sent to / from members of the general public should be excluded from the request. We believe you’re just requesting communications exchanged “between” the named parties in Buncombe County Government, but we just want to make sure — as that would greatly change the scope of the request.

Once our request form reopens (it’s currently “hidden”), please feel free to revise and submit a new request to our website. Please clearly indicate any specific details, subject, message, dates, record types, City / County / State, etc. about the exact public records that are being requested.

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It is important that what you are requesting is specific and reasonable, and is an actionable records request. Please specify the exact type of records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched. Remember that the larger your request, the more time it usually takes to fulfill. Specificity will often help reduce the amount of time needed to process the request.

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Status: Completed

Activity:

  • March 19, 2026 3:45 pm

    3 months ago

    Submitted to Sunshine Request
    Status: Pending