Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Tax Rate topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pampa adopts 2025–26 operating budget; approves property tax ordinance on first reading
Summary
The Pampa City Commission adopted the city's 2025'26 operating budget on second and final reading and voted to approve on first reading an ordinance setting the property tax rate at $0.703304 per $100 valuation.
The Pampa City Commission adopted the City of Pampa's 2025'26 operating budget on second and final reading and approved on first reading an ordinance setting the city's property tax rate at $0.703304 per $100 valuation during the commission meeting that convened at 4 p.m.
The budget ordinance (Ordinance No. 18-25) was presented for second and final reading, a motion to adopt was made and seconded, and the commission carried the measure by roll call. Commissioners voting aye were Horst, Dowdy, Keough and Reid; Mayor Borger also voted aye. Staff member Theresa had no additional comments during the vote.
On the next item, the commission considered Ordinance No. 18-26, which the text describes as "setting a tax rate of 0.703304 on each $100 valuation of property and levying ad valorem taxes" for the fiscal year. A motion to approve the ordinance on first reading was made and seconded and carried on voice vote and then by roll call; Horst, Dowdy, Keough, Reid and Mayor Borger each voted aye.
Commission discussion included contrasting statements about whether the change increases or decreases the tax burden. One commissioner who moved the tax ordinance described it in the motion as "effectively a 9.21% increase in the tax rate." Commissioner Horst said the opposite on the record: "I'd like to say that this is a decrease, not an increase. Just for everybody out there, the previous tax rate was 0.73¢. This is 0.7. That is 3¢ below. Please note that." Both statements were made during the commission's discussion; the transcript does not include an administrative calculation reconciling the two characterizations.
The ordinance captions and motions referenced the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025, and ending Sept. 30, 2026. The meeting record did not specify the budget's total dollar appropriations in the discussion excerpted in the transcript, nor did staff provide a line-item summary during the adopted-reading exchange included in the record.
Budget adoption and the first-reading approval of the tax ordinance were recorded as formal actions by the commission; the tax ordinance will require a subsequent reading or follow-up as prescribed by the city's ordinance procedures (the transcript records only the first-reading vote).
