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Amarillo council approves $29.17 million certificates to fund 10‑year street maintenance plan
Summary
The council approved an ordinance authorizing $29.17 million in certificates to fund a multi‑year street maintenance and reconstruction program, including a $16.17M full reconstruction of Osage Street and $12M for summer maintenance projects. City advisers said the bonds sold at a 3.43% rate.
The Amarillo City Council voted to adopt ordinance No. 8236 on March 10, 2026, approving the sale of $29,170,000 in certificates to support a 10‑year street maintenance and reconstruction plan.
City staff described the plan as a steady, recurring approach to street preservation. Donnie Hooper (staff member, speaker 3) told the council the program sets a consistent annual cadence of assessments, design and bidding so projects can be completed during paving season. "This is the best program we've had, in my 30 years of doing this," Hooper said, summarizing the city’s goal of shifting from reactive repairs to planned preventive maintenance.
Why it matters: staff said the program is intended to slow the decline of pavement-condition scores and reduce replacement costs over time. The plan includes a $16 million design and reconstruction project for Osage Street (34th to 58th), described as full‑depth reconstruction with subgrade stabilization and a two‑year construction schedule, plus approximately 30 blocks for mill & overlay, 69 blocks for cape seal, and microsurfacing for five residential areas.
Financial terms and budget impact: Steven Adams of Specialized Public Finance (speaker 23) said bids taken the morning of the meeting produced a winning interest rate of 3.43%, lower than earlier projections and yielding about $1.4 million in reduced debt service compared with prior estimates. Adams said the Osage portion was structured over 20 years while the maintenance tranche is structured over 10 years to match the useful life of the work. He noted the council could use restricted interest‑and‑sinking (I&S) fund balances to soften near‑term tax‑rate impacts; staff estimated a homeowner with $300,000 taxable value could see an annual impact in a range depending on the council’s choices and assessed valuation growth.
Council questions focused on timing and cash management. Council members asked about delaying the first principal payment (staff said that first principal was deferred one year to lessen a near‑term increase) and whether the city’s restricted debt reserves could be deployed to blunt an I&S increase. Adams said the city retained an AAA rating and that debt service is expected to fall off after the initial years, creating capacity in later budgets.
Outcome and next steps: Council member (speaker 9) moved adoption; the motion passed by voice vote. Staff said projects are designed and ready for bid; the city plans to proceed to bidding and construction in the spring and to incorporate the debt-service plan into the upcoming budget cycle.
