City Council approves offer to cut Amazon warehouse property taxes by half for 5 years
VIDEO: City Council approves offer to cut Amazon warehouse property taxes by half for 5 years By Tamlyn Cochran | January 26, 2021 at 6:25 PM CST - Updated January 26 at 10:28 PM
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Amazon has the option to accept or reject Amarilloâs economic incentives after the City Council voted on the final offer.
The offer would cut the companyâs property taxes by half for five years and give it $2.5 million to meet goals like creating 500 jobs.
Amazon will have to spend $13.5 million to pay the workers every year.
City to mull Amazon project tax abatement
During Tuesday s virtual regular session, the Amarillo City Council is expected to consider a tax abatement agreement in connection with a project that could yield an Amazon non-sortable fulfillment center here. Per the agreement, the proposed pact would be between the city, Happy Horizons Properties L.P., ET Amarillo LLC and Amazon.com Services LLC.
According to the Agenda Item Summary, project highlights include:
- Construction of a new one million square foot facility on 110.39 acres located at NE 24th Street and Loop 335
- Capital Investment totaling $100 million ($70 million in facility improvements and $30 million in equipment)
During Tuesday s virtual regular session, the Amarillo City Council voted to adopt an ordinance allowing persons who are not necessarily registered voters of the city to be appointed to various city boards and commissions if they possess special expertise or knowledge related to the board or commission operation and or charge.
The action on Ordinance 7897 was approved 4-1, with council member Elaine Hays casting the dissenting vote. Council had asked us to prepare a modified ordinance that would allow council some flexibility where, in situations where it benefited the city or the council saw unique benefit to the city, they had flexibility to appoint someone who is not a resident of the city or a registered voter of the city, City Manager Jared Miller said with regard to amended Section 2-6-3 of the Amarillo Municipal Code. So we made some very simple changes. It (the ordinance) says while registered voters of the city will be preferred, the council may appoint any perso
City officials said the process of developing the Eastridge Neighborhood Plan is slated to kick off next month and acknowledged in the midst of the pandemic the exercise will be implemented in a different manner. Mostly we want to let you know we re set to begin, Emily Koller, the city s Economic Development Neighborhood Revitalization manager, said while presenting an update before the Amarillo City Council during its virtual regular session. This is the fourth and final of the original plan areas that were identified in the neighborhood planning initiative interlocal agreement.
According to the city s website, the three previously adopted neighborhood plans are the North Heights Neighborhood Plan, the Barrio Neighborhood Plan and the San Jacinto Neighborhood Plan.