The Visit McKinney board heard on Tuesday that the City of McKinney’s fiscal 2026 budget was adopted and will take effect Oct. 1, 2025.

“For those that don't know me, I am Jennifer Arnold. ... Our fiscal year 26 budget was recently adopted and approved. It will go into effect tomorrow,” Jennifer Arnold, assistant city manager for the City of McKinney, told the board.

Arnold said the city has moved away from a single large development partner for a set of downtown properties after negotiations with a firm called M2G did not reach a financial agreement earlier this year. Instead, the city will take a more incremental approach: the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) will pursue an office partner for at least one lot while the city advances infrastructure upgrades to make remaining parcels “ready” for development.

The city also announced a change in a long-discussed highway crossing project. City staff said federal funding that supported the “Lower 5 Plaza,” an underground deck park across Highway 5, is no longer available. As a result, the city will stop pursuing the underground plaza concept and instead move forward with an enhanced at-grade crossing between Virginia and Louisiana streets. Arnold told the board staff are coordinating with TxDOT and the regional council of governments to reassign remaining funds to maximize corridor crossing improvements.

Arnold said the city plans demolition work in the downtown redevelopment area, including the old City Hall and the old Development Services Building, and expects demolition to be completed within about six to nine months so the city can proceed with roadway and underground utilities upgrades. She said the city has discussed interim uses for cleared sites, including construction staging related to the library reconstruction, but said interim uses have not been finalized.

Other infrastructure items mentioned to the board included ongoing work at the McKinney airport and a rehabilitation project for a downtown water tower that will remove old lead paint and reduce the visual impact of numerous antennas.

Board member Patrick McGuire noted street repair progress in parts of the city and highlighted the council’s action to reduce the city property tax rate. “We reduced our tax rate in the city of McKinney to 0.04122. That's the lowest in Collin County,” McGuire said during liaison reports.

City staff and board members discussed additional downtown concerns, including potential relocation of the municipal court facility and a city initiative to extend fire-suppression infrastructure from the curb to encourage building owners to install sprinkler systems in older downtown structures.

Why it matters: the adopted budget sets city spending priorities for departments and capital projects. The shift away from the underground plaza and the decision to ready downtown parcels incrementally change the timeline and likely the scale of redevelopment in McKinney’s core.

What remains unclear: Arnold told the board the city is still determining interim uses for cleared sites, the final funding allocations for specific crossing improvements remain under negotiation with regional partners, and whether EDC or the city will pursue another comprehensive development partner later. Those items were described as “still in flux.”

The board’s meeting packet and staff updates provided the information; no formal board action on the downtown projects was taken at the Visit McKinney meeting.