Early election results released by Collin County suggest that the bond proposal related to the McKinney National Airport expansion is unsuccessful.
The proposal sought to authorize $200 million in general obligation bonds for the construction of a commercial terminal at the airport. However, based on the numbers shared by Collin County, the bond item received a majority of "against" votes, with 58.69% (12,822 votes) of voters opposing the bond proposal. Only 9,024 voters supported the bond.
The city of McKinney is unable to certify election results at this time, but once provisional ballots are counted, final results will be certified sometime next week.
The $200 million McKinney airport expansion proposal suggested expanding the airport owned by the city of McKinney. The proposal was supported by Mayor George Fuller and several real estate developers in the area.
Local Profile previously reported McKinney city council voted unanimously in favor of the bond election for the project, which put the item on the 2023 ballot.
The cost of the proposed $200 million bond, including interest, was estimated to be $380 million, which is nearly twice the amount that was presented on the ballot. The local property taxpayers would have borne this additional expense.
The airport expansion would have approved the construction of a 144,000-square-foot airport terminal, along with a 15-acre aircraft apron and 2,000 parking spots.
Projections suggested the expansion would result in four new gates offering four to 20 flights a day and would open by 2026. By 2040, the project aimed to offer 16 gates with as many as 40 daily departures.
Residents spoke out in opposition to the project in the past, citing project projections about the airport’s potential economic impact and passenger use as biased, and investing in this project would not be the best use of city funds.
