Economic Development Now

IEDC’s Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) program recognizes organizational excellence in the areas of internal and external operations, structures, and procedures. This series profiles recently accredited AEDOs, putting some of economic development’s highest-performing organizations in the spotlight.

AEDO member: McKinney Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)

Accreditation date: February 2022

Distinction: MEDC is the 13th AEDO in Texas.

Mission statement: To increase citizen value by growing the commercial tax base through targeted and strategic business recruitment, business growth, and development in the City of McKinney

Vision statement: To make McKinney the most desirable business location in North Texas through strategic investments in corporate culture, talent development, and capital assets

Organizational structure: A special designation Type A nonprofit corporation working with sister organization the McKinney Community Development Center which is a Type B corporation

Leadership: McKinney’s mayor and city council appoint MEDC’s eight-member board of directors.

Geography served: The City of McKinney, which experienced a 327% population growth from 1999 to 2019

Population served: 206,654

Budget: The budget is derived from the half-cent sales tax revenue, which is currently $17 million; 18% of the budget is dedicated to operations and 82% is dedicated to projects and marketing.

Strategic focus: The strategic plan focuses on business retention and expansion, business attraction, entrepreneurship, and competitiveness. These are broken into seven SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) objectives.

1. Business attraction: MEDC seeks qualified businesses, domestic and foreign, in identified targeted industries to relocate to the City of McKinney, specifically advanced manufacturing, tech companies, financial services, and startups.

2. Marketing / social media / website: MEDC continuously refines and updates its marketing campaigns, social media channels, and website to clearly showcase McKinney as a business and lifestyle destination and promote development opportunities.

3. Business intelligence: MEDC utilizes business intelligence tools to enhance McKinney’s appeal through data visualization and data-driven reporting.

4. Lead generation and outreach: MEDC participates in appropriate trade missions, direct marketing trips, industry conferences, and localized events to recruit national and international business prospects and promote McKinney as the premier city in North Texas for corporate investment.

5. Infrastructure development: MEDC engages technology infrastructure providers to invest in infrastructure that will serve as a catalyst for business attraction and community lifestyle improvement.

6. Increase commercial tax base: MEDC's business attraction, BRE, and startup strategies seek additional opportunities for increasing the city’s commercial tax base.

7. Business retention and expansion: MEDC effectively engages McKinney-based businesses to build and maintain relationships as well as seek out any assistance or expansion opportunities.

Highlighted accomplishments: The current project pipeline has an estimated value of $2.6 billion. Additional recent successes include the following:

• Independent Financial recently built a $150-million expansion of its headquarters in McKinney. The building spans six stories and 198,000 square feet.

• Raytheon opened a new 178,000-square foot Advanced Integration and Manufacturing Center in McKinney, creating 500 skilled jobs.

• Dynacraft, a subsidiary of PACCAR Inc, completed its HQ transition from the Seattle area to McKinney in early 2020. The move brought more than 50 jobs to the community.

Q&A with MEDC:

What does MEDC do particularly well?

MEDC’s project pipeline alone has the potential for $3 billion in new capital investment. This means that McKinney is finally getting the attention it deserves from the development and corporate community. We have some major announcements coming up thanks to innovative thinking and our tenacious project team.

What unique programs or initiatives does MEDC carry out?

We are very proud of our Innovation Fund. Five new technology-driven startups were funded in 2022, bringing the total to 32 companies funded since the inception of the program in mid 2020.

What is a challenge facing McKinney, and how does MEDC work to address it?

Most cities strive to have a balanced tax equation, ideally around 50% residential property tax and 50% commercial property tax. Having an equal amount of residential and commercial property tax revenue reduces the burden on residents to support city services. McKinney is currently around 80% residential and 20% commercial. So commercial development is important to help balance that equation, and we are working hard to build up that base.

Why did MEDC decide to pursue AEDO accreditation?

With the AEDO recognition, MEDC has become part of an elite network of EDOs that have gone through the accreditation process. The AEDO status says to our community that we are a leading authority on economic development.

What feedback from the AEDO Review Team did you find particularly helpful, and how do you plan to implement their recommendations?

The AEDO team was very insightful about the different areas of our organization. They pointed us to new resources that we can leverage in our data collection and presentation, and gave us programmatic recommendations to layer on top of our existing structure. I think one of the most valuable things the review team provided us was raw feedback. We can get somewhat “closed circuit” at times with how we run things. Having outside feedback on every area of our organization was very beneficial for our internal review.