Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Wasn’t the question…it was more who needs more towels after this “wet work”?
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
GoofGoof
Premium Member
The bold part is the whole ballgame. Only way around that is an amendment to the state constitution to eliminate Disney’s right to representation while continuing to tax them. Seems like a horribly slippery slope to go down. I can’t imagine any corporation even considering moving any jobs to FL if that’s the law of the land. That could have extreme negative long term impacts on the state and local economies.
Disney Spat Leaves DeSantis Few Options for Reedy Creek District
Disney’s Reedy Creek district—or something like it—will almost certainly be in place for the foreseeable future in Florida, either by court intervention or legislation. The question now is how much oversight the state will enjoy over this uniquely powerful and corporate-controlled district, says...news.bloombergtax.com
“If Florida attempts to place Reedy Creek under state control, Disney will have a much stronger court case than if the state simply dissolved the district. Depending on who you ask, Disney already had a claim that dissolving the district was unconstitutional retaliation for protected speech in violation of the First Amendment. However, that claim was not entirely clear, as it would be unusual for a court to step in to say a state cannot dissolve one of its own subdivisions based on an alleged improper motive.
Disney’s right to elect its representatives is much stronger than its right to have Reedy Creek exist at all. Disney, as property owner, was granted the statutory right to elect the district’s board of supervisors. If Florida tried to replace it with state political appointees, the situation would go from the state managing its own subdivisions to the state taking away a landowner’s right to vote for its local representatives—an action courts are much more accustomed to stepping in to prevent. Florida cannot avoid this control issue by simply creating a new district with a different governing body, as the state Constitution would require Disney to approve any special district with taxing powers like Reedy Creek.”
GoofGoof
Premium Member
To put your mind at ease:
- The jury is still out on this whole situation so DeSantis may not ultimately win unless like me you believe this was all a political stunt done to drum up support and gain donations…..then he’s already won
- It‘s possible that RCID stays, it’s also possible it’s replaced with something very similar with maybe a few exceptions or a new name so even if RCID dies, RCID part 2 may be seamless to most of us so not a death….a rebirth or maybe a rebranding
- Even if DeSantis wins and RCID does die completely it won’t end Disney World. Some of the major benefits of RCID from the early years are largely irrelevant today. For example when Disney was a smaller company and less credit worthy being able to borrow money off balance sheet was a bigger deal. Now after the Fox acquisition TWDC has billions in debt anyway so hiding a billion is no big deal. Comcast has had no issues developing Universal (and getting the local county to foot some of the bill for infrastructure). Disney will spend more money lobbying local politicians and will still do new infrastructure projects. There may be less road work projects and they may take longer but it won’t force WDW to close.
Skibum1970
Well-Known Member
Agree completely. No way WDW closes and no one can force them to close. They close only if the parks start losing money or if TWDC goes under or is in danger of going under. Reedy Creek ruling won't really impact anything, if I had to guess. DeSantis painted himself into a corner and, like most politicians, will not back down or quietly let this go away. At the end of the day, I'd say that it will be business as usual, fans will notice nothing different, and Disney and Florida will find a way to get along.
I think that your points are all spot-on, particularly #2.
I did want to add. When the dust has settled, the parks will still be packed, Genie+ will remain a disaster, and Disney will still take 5 years to construct a minimally themed indoor coaster.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
What Julius Caesar calls “Clusterus Maximus Disasterica”
Stripes
Well-Known Member
Does Florida need approval from RCID/Disney to amend the Reedy Creek Improvement Act to replace the landowner elected Board with a Governor appointed Board? I would think and hope so. Is there something in the Florida Constitution that would pertain to such a scenario?
It would be odd if the Florida legislature could make such a change to the district’s control without the landowners’ permission. But if they were creating a new district with said taxing authority they would need permission.
NotCalledBob
Well-Known Member
I can see one huge upside for Disney in a RCID dissolution.
It can take over from Covid as something to blame all project delays on from hereon in.
Silver linings and all that.
I still think there will be an agreement of sorts with a face saving solution all round. It suits DeSantis right now to sabre rattle a bit.
It can take over from Covid as something to blame all project delays on from hereon in.
Silver linings and all that.
I still think there will be an agreement of sorts with a face saving solution all round. It suits DeSantis right now to sabre rattle a bit.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
Neither the state of FL or Universal would be “just fine” without Disney.
Kamikaze
Well-Known Member
NotCalledBob
Well-Known Member
Yes, I believe the chance is somewhere between no chance, and less than no chance.
I guess it would solve the Orlando house price problem though.
Kamikaze
Well-Known Member
I don't think you even realize how many jobs revolve around WDW. Not only the 60k Disney CMs, but all the jobs that revolve around Disney guests and those 60k CMs. The Florida economy would not survive the closure of WDW.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
This.
I know it was pre-Covid but there was a study about the economic impact Disney had on Florida in 2018 and it was pretty ridiculous just how much money they bring into the state.
"A 2019 study found Disney dominates the Central Florida tourism industry, according to Oxford Economics, and produced:
- $75.2 billion annual economic impact for Central Florida.
- 463,000 jobs.
- $5.8 billion in additional state tax revenue.
The sales tax collected just on the 58 million Disney World tickets sold in 2018 was $409 million. That’s more than what the state will spend this year on school construction and maintenance or the entire Department of Elder Affairs budget."
Surferboy567
Well-Known Member
I’m still trying to grapple with the fact that people actually think Florida would survive without Disney. Some of these comments on the news stories (not this forum) for this are hilarious.
Coaster Lover
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I think the idea that Disney would just pick up and leave and either move current assets or just "salt the earth" and raze everything behind them is laughable. If Disney "leaves" (which wont happen), the most logical thing that happens is that someone else comes in and buys everything as is and just runs the park as a Disney park (not dissimilar to TDL, just buying an existing park instead of building one from scratch).
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Day one after Disney hypothetically goes poof: new income tax for all Florida residents.
donsullivan
Premium Member
Disney isn't leaving FL, no matter how this plays out. However, if the final version of the RCID changes result in making it significantly more expensive and/or more difficult for Disney to operate and invest, they may choose to reduce any new development on the WDW site for a while.
ANY such amendment will require 60% of those voting in 2024 approving to pass. And such an amendment likely won't. It cannot be targeted towards a single corporation, so broadly written. Every single corporation in the state will make sure its employees understand the measure.