Amarillo City Council is set to consider over $24 million in spending items during their upcoming regular meeting. Major spending items on the agenda include replacing the entrance loop and parking lot pavement at the airport, approval of the FY23/24 street maintenance project construction contract, and the AEDC’s participation in continuing funding for the Thrive Scholarship Program.

The largest spending item on the agenda is a $12,736,007 contract with Fuller and Sons Construction to replace the entrance loop road and parking lot pavement at Rick Husband International Airport. Most of the money set to be spent on the entrance loop road portion of the project will be funded from a Federal Aviation Administration grant, while the rest will be funded with Airport capital funds.

The next largest spending item on the agenda is a $7,603.297.30 construction contract with Intermountain Slurry Seal, Inc as part of the FY 23/24 street maintenance project, funded with street bond dollars. This project will include application of a cape seal product on arterials including NE 15th Ave, NE 16th Ave, SE and SW 34th St, Coulter St, Western St, Gem Lake Rd, Evans Dr, S Adams St, and N Hughes St. Microsurfacing work will also be performed on Arden Road as well as several residential neighborhoods in Northeastern Amarillo.

The only other item on the agenda with a pricetag of over $1 million is a $3,000,000 agreement between Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, the Amarillo Area Foundation, Amarillo Independent School District, and Amarillo college to continue funding the Thrive Scholarship Program.

In addition to these high-price items, another notable spending item is the calling of an election on the petitioned-for Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance. The item is expected to cost between $90,000 to $120,000, which will be spent with Potter and Randall Counties, who will run the election. On the city’s side, this cost is expected to be shared with several city charter amendment propositions. Additionally, since these items will be placed on the November general election ballot, the overall change in the cost for local taxpayers is expected to be minimal.

While there is an item to call the election on the agenda, it is not certain the council will take action during the meeting, as the council is still weighing potential ballot language for the proposition. One version of the ballot language was included in the agenda packet, while two alternatives were provided to the council by staff on the City Council Forum website. Our full story on that topic can be found at this link.

Another high-profile item set to be discussed is the result of an analysis of the accounting of the 2016 Proposition 1 Bond funds. Our full story on that topic can be found at this link.

The meeting will be held at 3:00 pm on July 23rd on the third floor of Amarillo City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packet can be found at this link.