Amarillo City Council Special Meeting 9/14/2026

The Amarillo City Council held a special meeting on September 14, 2026, primarily to discuss and set a ceiling for the city's property tax rate for the upcoming budget year. The council reviewed detailed tax rate calculations, including corrections to previous miscalculations related to tax increment financing (TIF) values and excess debt collections. They examined the impact of different tax rate scenarios, including the no new revenue rate and the voter-approval (Vader) rate, on the city's revenue projections and budget. The council also discussed budget priorities such as personnel pay increases, supplemental funding requests, capital improvement projects, and reserve fund adequacy. After deliberation, the council voted 3-2 to set the tax rate ceiling at the existing 2025-26 rate of 0.4307, allowing flexibility to adjust within that limit at future meetings. Action items included further analysis of reserves, transfers, and funding allocations to finalize the budget by the next meeting on September 22.