According to public notices on the City of Amarillo website, the public hearings on the city’s 2022/2023 budget and tax hike scheduled for August 16th and August 19th have been cancelled. The hearings were scheduled by Amarillo City Council during last Tuesday’s meeting.
The public hearing on the tax rate had drawn attention from both the public and Councilman Cole Stanley, who noticed that the proposed tax increase, which was the largest allowed under state law before triggering an election, included servicing debt from the Civic Center project. The controversial tax notes in question are at the heart of a lawsuit against the city by local businessman Alex Fairly.
No immediate public explanation was given by the city, with the documents providing the original notices of the public hearings on the city’s website simply being amended to have “PUBLIC HEARING CANCELLED” added on top of the existing text in large red lettering.
The City of Amarillo was not immediately available for comment as this was not brought to our attention until after the close of business hours at City Hall. We will provide updates when we have more information. Links to the notices are available below: