During a special meeting Tuesday afternoon, The Amarillo City Council ratified the FY2026/2027 budget and tax rate, each passed with a 4-1 vote. Councilman Les Simpson (P4) was the lone dissenting vote.
Prior to the ratification vote, Simpson took the opportunity to offer his perspective on recent events - specifically the budget process going back to mid July when former City Manager Grayson Path informed the council he was bringing former City CFO Laura Storrs back to assist in the process in the interest of speed and time. Said Simpson, “Institutional knowledge is valuable, but it still has to be verified.”
Councilman David Prescott (P3) made the motion to ratify the budget and tax rate with approved language, Councilman Tim Reid (P1) made the second.
Simpson pointed out there were still significant issues that had to be corrected, even complimenting Mayor Cole Stanley for questioning the numbers being presented by staff during the budget process. “I do want to acknowledge that when the mayor questioned some of these numbers, I defended the staff and said we needed to trust the numbers we were being given. Some of those numbers turned out to be wrong. The mayor was right to question them and I was wrong to dismiss those concerns.”