Photo via The City of Amarillo
As we reported yesterday, the City of Amarillo has cancelled public hearings on the city’s budget and tax rate for the upcoming 2022/2023 fiscal year. The Amarillo Pioneer today reached out to Mayor Ginger Nelson, City Manager Jared Miller, City Secretary Stephanie Coggins, and Communications Manager David Henry for more information.
While the Amarillo Pioneer has not received any response, the City of Amarillo has posted the agenda for the upcoming City Council meeting scheduled for August 16th. The public hearing on the city’s budget was scheduled to occur during this meeting but, in line with the cancellation of the hearing, no hearing is on the agenda.
The tax rate proposed during the most recent council meeting was the largest allowed under state law before an election must be called. While the tax rate would not require an election if passed as proposed, any increase to the proposed rate would. With the cancelled August 19th public hearing on the tax rate, the city is quickly running up against the August 22nd deadline to call an election on the November ballot on the issue should the proposed rate increase.
As this is a developing story, we will continue to provide updates on our website as they become available.