McKinney Keeps $0.412284 Tax Rate on $880.5M FY2026-27 Budget

MCKINNEY, McKinney City Council adopted an approximately $880.5 million Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget on Sept. 1, 2026, and held the city property tax rate at $0.412284 per $100 of taxable value, the same total as the prior year, according to the city’s official news release and budget table.

The all-funds total on the city’s Budget page is $880,482,453, down about 6.6% from the prior adopted all-funds figure. The balanced General Fund is about $246.5 million for police, fire, streets, parks, libraries, and other core services. The fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2026.

What the official budget and tax table show

City of McKinney materials and the Sept. 2, 2026 CivicAlerts release list:

• Total budget (all funds): $880,482,453
• Property tax rate held: $0.412284 per $100
• M&O rate: $0.276856
• Debt service rate: $0.135428
• General Fund: about $246.5 million revenues and expenses (balanced)
• Property tax revenue (all listed components): about $191.7 million budgeted

Holding the rate required offsetting roughly $2.2 million in projected revenue loss. The adopted plan pairs about $1.2 million in targeted expense reductions (department operations, capital equipment replacement, and supplemental items) with a $1 million transfer from the McKinney Community Development Corporation. City Manager Paul Grimes, in the official release, said residents expect “reliable public safety, well-maintained streets and parks, responsive City services, and responsible stewardship of their tax dollars,” and that the budget “maintains those core services while making the adjustments necessary to keep our General Fund balanced.”

Community Impact’s Sept. 3 coverage of the Sept. 1 meeting, citing city documents, puts the city tax on a median home valued at $518,165 near $2,136. Council also approved a 9% water rate increase and an 11% wastewater rate increase tied to North Texas Municipal Water District cost pressure, with new monthly base charges of $21.60 for water and $31.20 for wastewater effective Oct. 1.

How McKinney’s hold compares with other North Texas ledgers

A flat city rate is not the same as a school VATRE fight or a county homestead math story, but Collin County readers are sorting all three piles before November. Never Late News has already covered Collin County’s $0.149343 rate on a $599.2 million budget, Dallas’s $5.66 billion FY2026-27 budget, Irving ISD’s $952 million bond on the Nov. 3 ballot, and Mesquite ISD’s Prop A VATRE. McKinney’s city story is a hold-the-rate General Fund balance that leans on a development-corporation transfer and targeted cuts rather than a rate hike.

The Budget page also shows property tax revenue rising even with a flat rate, because taxable value and the M&O/debt mix still move. That is the quiet household lesson: a unchanged $0.412284 line can still mean a different bill when the appraisal notice changes.

Water bills, TIRZ funds, and what to watch

The all-funds book mixes general operations, utilities, capital, and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone activity. Utility rate hikes land on the monthly bill faster than the annual property-tax statement. Watch whether the $1.2 million in operating and equipment trims stay off core public-safety staffing, and whether the MCDC transfer becomes a recurring bridge. The city’s own transparency table is the primary scoreboard for FY2026-27 amendments.

Why this matters

November ballots will pull attention to school bonds and state races, but city budgets set the floor for police response times, street work, and park upkeep. McKinney’s choice to hold $0.412284 while balancing a $246.5 million General Fund inside an $880.5 million all-funds plan is the local price tag for that floor this year.

How Never Late News reported this

Never Late News based this report on the City of McKinney official news release “McKinney City Council Adopts FY27 Budget” (CivicAlerts AID=6988, posted Sept. 2, 2026) and the city’s Budget page FY2026-27 adopted table showing total budget $880,482,453 and property tax rate $0.412284 (M&O $0.276856 / debt $0.135428), plus the about $246.5 million balanced General Fund, about $2.2 million revenue offset, about $1.2 million targeted reductions, $1 million McKinney Community Development Corporation transfer, and City Manager Paul Grimes’s quoted statement. Utility rate details and the median-home city-tax example were cross-checked against Community Impact’s Sept. 3, 2026 meeting coverage citing city documents. Primary official link: mckinneytexas.org CivicAlerts AID=6988. We did not invent interviews beyond the published city release quote.

Corrections and reader feedback

If you spot an error in budget totals, tax-rate figures, or meeting dates, email editor@neverlatenews.com with the correction and a source link. Never Late News corrects factual mistakes promptly and notes substantive updates when the City of McKinney revises budget materials.

About Never Late News: Never Late News is a US local and civic news site covering budgets, taxes, schools, housing, and public services with people-first reporting. This article carries the byline Jessica J. Eaton.