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ChatGPTClaudePerplexitySummary City revenue · Part 4
The number behind Amarillo's water rate increases
Amarillo Ledger ·
A plain-language summary of records on this site. Every figure is on the linked pages, with its source.
This is the number behind your water rate increases.
Amarillo's water and sewer system has to bring in enough, after operating costs, to make its bond payments. The City's audited report tracks that as "coverage": what's left over divided by the year's bond payments.
In FY2016 coverage was 2.70×: $32.0 million left over against $11.8 million in bond payments. By FY2025 it was 1.31×: $35.2 million against $26.9 million in payments. At 1.00×, revenue would only just cover the bonds.
Bond payments more than doubled in ten years while what's left over barely moved. The City's budget books list new debt and capital projects among the reasons for recent rate increases. And more water and sewer borrowing is planned: the proposed FY2026/27 budget counts $60.0 million in new borrowing in the water and sewer fund alone.
The ten-year table and the bonds behind it: amarilloledger.com/revenue
