McKinney Officials Ignore Voters On Airport Expansion, Face Lawsuit

Voters Said NO Twice – So City Hall Just Found a Different Pocket of Taxpayer Money

A North Texas group and four individual plaintiffs have now sued McKinney officials in Collin County District Court – seeking to block roughly $30 million in bonds tied to the city's controversial airport expansion, The Dallas Express recently reported.

And honestly? You can't blame them.

Because here's what McKinney voters have been telling their elected officials for a decade: they don’t want the airport.

In 2015, McKinney voters rejected a $50 million bond for airport expansion at McKinney National Airport. In 2023, voters did it again – this time striking down a $200 million general obligation bond to expand the regional airport for commercial flights. Nearly 59% of voters said NO.

So what did Mayor Bill Cox and the McKinney City Council do? They ignored the people and approved $58 million in construction contracts for the expansion in May 2025 anyway.

Mayor Cox has a slick line for explaining it all away. According to him, the city did listen to the voters – because it isn't using property tax dollars like the failed bond proposed. The city, he says, “dropped the idea of taxpayer funded expansion.”

That is ridiculous.

The McKinney airport expansion is being funded by taxpayer money. It's just being funded by a different pocket – sales tax revenue funneled through city development corporations, plus state and federal government grants.

Sales tax dollars are taxpayer dollars. State grants are taxpayer dollars. Federal grants are taxpayer dollars.

Here's what makes this whole boondoggle even more absurd: McKinney – like the rest of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – already has easy access to two major airports. Dallas Fort Worth International. Dallas Love Field. Both are a short drive away. Both already serve major commercial carriers.

McKinney voters reasonably concluded there's no need to spend their tax dollars on yet another airport – one that will bring increased noise and traffic to surrounding neighborhoods, including residents in nearby cities who didn't even get a vote.

This is exactly how people lose faith in their government. It's also exactly why President Donald Trump was elected – because Americans are fed up with politicians who ask for their input, ignore the answer, and do whatever they wanted to do all along.

And if anyone in McKinney City Hall was paying attention, they got another warning shot in November 2024 – when McKinney voters rejected a city proposition that would have extended term limits and increased pay for the mayor and city council.

Gee – wonder why?

Shame on Mayor Bill Cox and every member of the McKinney City Council who has allowed this project to barrel forward against the clearly expressed will of their own constituents.

The voters of McKinney have spoken – clearly, repeatedly, and decisively. It's long past time their elected representatives started listening.