The Amarillo City Council spent its third budget workshop Friday balancing a growing list of department needs against a central question: how much can the City fund while still lowering the property tax rate?

City staff returned with revised recommendations based on direction council members provided during Thursday’s workshop, including a proposal for allocating approximately $7.2 million available for recurring expenses. The council also heard requests involving emergency communications, parks, municipal court and an array of one-time capital projects.

By the end of Friday’s discussion, staff had another task: determine what cutting roughly $1 million from the proposed budget would mean for those priorities — and for the tax rate.

Emergency communications seeks more staff

Max Dunlap, director of the Office of Emergency Management, told council members that staffing at the Amarillo Emergency Communications Center has increased, but the center’s workload has grown as well.

AECC has 64 employees, including approximately 50 specialists who handle calls, and recorded about 1.1 million radio transactions over the course of a year. Roughly one-third of its calls are non-emergencies.

The workload has placed pressure on existing staff. The center averages approximately $900,000 a year in overtime costs, an amount equivalent to the salaries of about 23 full-time employees.

Dunlap said AECC ultimately needs another 27 full-time employees, although those positions were not included on the department’s budget request sheet.

Deputy City Manager Andrew Freeman said the full staffing requests from public safety departments were omitted because funding all of them would likely require enough additional money to necessitate a bond election.

Public safety departments also are not currently fully staffed, complicating efforts to determine what normal operating costs would look like at full strength. The City has been overhiring this year as it works toward staffing targets.

The Office of Emergency Management itself has eight full-time employees and needs another six and a half positions, according to Dunlap.

OEM is also requesting $50,000 for an outdoor warning siren system and $70,000 for special-event equipment and planning software. Dunlap said OEM and AECC are exploring additional revenue sources, including siren services and contracts with other entities.

Parks turns attention to maintenance and aging facilities

After several years of significant investment in Amarillo parks, Parks and Recreation Director Michael Kashuba said the department is shifting more attention toward maintenance, signage, beautification and aging facilities.

Among the needs is replastering the pool at the Warford Activity Center, which recorded 4,600 users in June alone.

The department also wants a centralized irrigation control system. Employees currently have to inspect individual park irrigation systems manually. A centralized system would allow staff to monitor irrigation from one location, shut systems on or off and adjust watering based on weather conditions.

Park restrooms are another concern.

Restrooms at school parks have been closed and are slated for removal, with responsibility for any replacements left to the school districts. Restrooms in City-owned parks generally remain open unless plumbing or sewer problems force a closure, but many are in poor condition and need replacement.

Longer-term priorities include restoring or replacing playgrounds, reseeding bare areas where weeds became overgrown during the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually purchasing artificial turf for athletic fields.

Municipal court considers outside collections

Amarillo Municipal Court could return to using an outside collection agency to pursue outstanding warrants and debts.

Court Services Director Donna Knight told the council the City stopped using a collection agency in 2014 following problems that included notices being sent to the wrong people.

Outside collection agencies also charge fees that increase what residents owe. Since ending the arrangement, Municipal Court employees have handled collections internally.

Information presented by Knight showed Amarillo is performing about as well as comparable municipalities, but collection efforts consume staff time and resources.

City Manager Grayson Path said the City plans to search for an outside collection agency while closely reviewing its practices and looking for a community-focused company. Council members supported exploring the option.

Employee raises remain in play as council considers $1 million cut

One of Friday’s central discussions focused on approximately $7.2 million available for recurring requests.

Based on direction from Thursday’s workshop, Freeman said staff believes the City can provide civilian employees with a 2% cost-of-living adjustment while setting aside funding for 1% merit raises. The proposal would also implement portions of a civilian employee pay study and provide police officers and firefighters with 3% raises.

Staff recommendations also include $100,000 for police and fire overtime, several additional employees and various supplies and software.

Councilmember Les Simpson, Place Four, revisited the possibility of adopting the no-new-revenue tax rate and reducing the proposed budget by another $1 million to help push the tax rate lower.

Freeman said employee raises could remain possible with such a reduction, but some other requests would likely have to come off the list.

Path noted that the City represents roughly 22% of a resident’s overall property tax bill. While not every resident uses a local school district or college, he said everyone in Amarillo relies on City services.

Residents have also asked for improvements such as faster response times and better park irrigation, Path said, and additional property tax revenue is one way to fund those services.

Mayor Cole Stanley said he was not opposed to finding $1 million in total reductions and directed staff to examine whether administrative costs could be reallocated or transfers adjusted to rebalance the budget.

Freeman said staff would revisit the numbers, review the rankings of requests and return with additional options.

One-time projects span City departments

Council members also reviewed recommendations for one-time community improvement projects.

Freeman said department heads identified some recurring expenses that could instead be treated as one-time purchases, including equipment that could be bought outright rather than leased.

Potential projects include design work for another fire station and a fire training facility, traffic signal and other traffic administration equipment, court reporter software and several pieces of heavy machinery.

The list also includes continued kennel renovations at the Animal Management and Welfare shelter and design work for renovating or expanding the municipal court and police building.

Several enterprise funds have millions of dollars available for separate projects.

The water and sewer fund has $13 million earmarked for capital improvement projects that will be brought to the council for approval throughout the year. The drainage fund has money set aside for a new street sweeper.

Solid waste has approximately $3 million available to continue replacing residential dumpsters, obtain engineering services at the landfill and develop solid waste “convenience centers” intended to replace public receptacles currently located at Amarillo libraries.

The Civic Center has about $1.9 million available.

Interim General Manager Christopher Post told the council the Civic Center is not intended to generate a profit and routinely operates at a loss while providing community services. Staff is examining advertising revenue and other opportunities to recover some of those costs.

Planned Civic Center projects include asphalt and chair replacement, repairs to the ice plant and a new sound system and seating upgrades at the coliseum.

Another $5.7 million is available in the airport fund. Those projects remain under review but could include a noise study, carpet replacement and purchases of heavy equipment.

City carries nearly $567 million in debt

Amarillo currently carries approximately $566.8 million in total debt, but a portion is beginning to mature.

About $4.9 million in debt matures this year, which is expected to lower the 2027 tax rate by roughly 3 cents. Another $2 million is scheduled to roll off over the following few years and affect the 2030 rate.

After that, no additional City debt is scheduled to mature until 2037.

City staff is working with financial advisers to determine how proposed new debt would affect the 2027 tax rate and plans to return to the council with those calculations.

Meanwhile, the council has outlined a preliminary schedule for completing the budget process before the Sept. 30 deadline to formally adopt a budget and tax rate.

Budget and tax-rate discussions are set to continue during the council’s regular Aug. 25 meeting. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget and establish a not-to-exceed tax rate Sept. 8. That rate could subsequently be lowered.

A public hearing and first reading of the proposed tax rate are scheduled for Sept. 22, followed by a final adoption vote Sept. 29.

Before then, council members will have to decide where to draw the line between funding additional services and staffing — and pushing Amarillo’s property tax rate lower.