News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[eddie104]

If by 'got what they wanted' to mean they got the Govenor to stop squeezing their throat? Yes they did.

But they didn't GAIN anything... yet they lost tons... spent millions.. and are not in a better position than when they started. So what do you suggest was their prize and 'got what they wanted'?

'At the end of the day' - Disney lost an incredible level of control and direct influence over a significant element of their operation. They also now have a court history ruling against them. They are paying for District operations that are setup in a manner THEY didn't choose.

How does one look at this and say... 'we got what we wanted'?

They are billion dollar company so loosing a couple million is not crazy for them.

 

[Cliff]

View attachment 792615

Disney won nothing - They got a cease fire appeasement by promising to start giving back to the politicians and promising to spend money in florida. The state gave up nothing... and still has the court decisions on the books supporting their action.

Disney lost big time... they are just trying to focus on 'getting back to normal'

Stop being negative. Who's side are you on anyway?

 

[flynnibus]

They are billion dollar company so loosing a couple million is not crazy for them.

Maybe - but you still haven't listed anything they gained or are better off from where they started though... nor addressed the other things they have lost.

Name one thing that is better now for Disney.

 

[flynnibus]

Stop being negative. Who's side are you on anyway?

This a place for objective reasoning. If you have lines to tow... you're gonna get called out for the non-sense it is.

 

[flynnibus]

I wonder if Disney will somehow extend an olive branch to the Firefighters and get them their perks back... or if the district will quietly pivot back on the topic for everyone.

 

[Stripes]

I wonder if Disney will somehow extend an olive branch to the Firefighters and get them their perks back... or if the district will quietly pivot back on the topic for everyone.

According to the district it was an inappropriate perk to begin with. So I don’t think the firefighters will be getting their Disney perks back. They’re SOL.

 

[flynnibus]

According to the district it was an inappropriate perk to begin with. So I don’t think the firefighters will be getting their Disney perks back. They’re SOL.

Well, according to the district MANAGEMENT it was - who are no longer there. And the new management has already showed they are willing to to deals that contradict prior discord and agendas and the two parties are collaborating behind closed doors. (which ironically - that's the biggest thing the GOP HASN'T fixed about the prior district... because now they are part of the gang).

Which is why I poised the question... will Disney turn back to its former employees and try to fight to make it happen?

 

[Stripes]

Which is why I poised the question... will Disney turn back to its former employees and try to fight to make it happen?

They were never Disney employees. Disney may allow the district employees to purchase the old passes again with their stipend. But unless the district changes how they calculate the stipend amount, it will never be the same perk.

 

[Stripes]

Bear in mind, Disney only sued once the district and the state came after the development agreement. Now that a development agreement is back in place (one that is very favorable to Disney) there’s no need to continue the lawsuits as Disney sees it. Bad PR in this age of incredible polarization with little benefit to the business.

Disney can once again build whatever they want without government interference. The new administrator has a great relationship with Disney and worked with DeSantis in the past to carve out exceptions in legislation so that new laws wouldn’t apply to Disney. She has basically done their bidding for years.

 

[flynnibus]

They were never Disney employees. Disney may allow the district employees to purchase the old passes again with their stipend. But unless the district changes how they calculate the stipend amount, it will never be the same perk.

I know they weren't truly employees - I think after 1200 pages we wouldn't be challenging that slang I used. Their benefits here were because Disney gave it to them.. and Disney was hands on in the arrangement.. as well as hands on with the District's management. They were not true employees - but they were in effect, serving at the behest of Disney and Disney calling the shots in this matter.

Now that we are past the obvious...

Yes, the tax liability has to be addressed since the cat is out of the bag so to speak... but Disney can just gross people up to cover the expense too. It's just a matter of what they want to pay for... and we've already heard how big of a deal it was to those who were getting the benefit.

All of this is moving around the elephant in the room.. which is you have hundreds of rank and file employees who weren't part of this anti-disney campaign... but got dragged along with it... and now that their two-faced leaders have done the 180 to tow the new business mandate... I wonder if they will address the employees who lost through this.

 

[lazyboy97o]

All of this is moving around the elephant in the room.. which is you have hundreds of rank and file employees who weren't part of this anti-disney campaign... but got dragged along with it... and now that their two-faced leaders have done the 180 to tow the new business mandate... I wonder if they will address the employees who lost through this.

The firefighters in particular did decide to get involved and oppose Disney.

 

[flynnibus]

Bear in mind, Disney only sued once the district and the state came after the development agreement. Now that a development agreement is back in place (one that is very favorable to Disney) there’s no need to continue the lawsuits as Disney sees it. Bad PR in this age of incredible polarization with little benefit to the business.

Ehh.. the lawsuits were already done. And of course Disney only sued after the state attacked the developer agreement... they can't sue for a contract being violated before it was Disney made a pre-emptive strike at the district level with the developer agreement... they fired the first shots.. just not in court.

Disney can once again build whatever they want without government interference

No, Disney still has to deal with the district, and whomever the state decides to sit there.. and all the 'how can they make life worse for disney' points are all still the same. Nothing that happened since RCID was torn down touched anything in the comprehensive plan that was in place and the only portion of the new developer agreement that really matters is it locks in new land management minimums for the property as a whole. Disney basically promised 8 billion dollars and capitulating in return to ensure they get to define the new TBD comprehensive plan like the old days... with their interests at the forefront.

Everything else is still as it was with the new District in power... the difference now is right now you have District management that is cooperating with Disney. It's just an example of how far things can swing based on the District's board... they can be completely antagonistic, or they can be completely submissive... all within the same structure.

Disney gets to lock up the master plan for the property - but everything else is still at the whim of the Governor because he can swap people to do whatever he pleases.

The new administrator has a great relationship with Disney and worked with DeSantis in the past to carve out exceptions in legislation so that new laws wouldn’t apply to Disney. She has basically done their bidding for years.

And her job is only as secure as the Governor in office's latest itch. The anti-Disney stance of the last year plus was not because a rogue guy was hired as the district administrator... let's not forget that. Those people were just yes-men who were replaced just as fast as they were put in place when the agenda changed. That risk hasn't changed.

 

[flynnibus]

The firefighters in particular did decide to get involved and oppose Disney.

Yes I know - which is why I said Disney would be the one to extend the olive branch... the act to initiate and signal a wish to reconcile...

Disney knows full well what the union did and the sides they chose... but Disney also knows the union isn't going anywhere... and they know the union has egg on it's face.

When your opposition is knocked down and deflated... being the one to help them back up is often a strong way to reconcile and move beyond the past transgressions.

 

[Stripes]

Ehh.. the lawsuits were already done. And of course Disney only sued after the state attacked the developer agreement... they can't sue for a contract being violated before it was Disney made a pre-emptive strike at the district level with the developer agreement... they fired the first shots.. just not in court.

. After the new district took over at the beginning of this mess, Vahle put out a statement that Disney sought to work with the new board on very friendly terms. Disney’s goal was never to continue this fight.

No, Disney still has to deal with the district, and whomever the state decides to sit there.. and all the 'how can they make life worse for disney' points are all still the same. Nothing that happened since RCID was torn down touched anything in the comprehensive plan that was in place and the only portion of the new developer agreement that really matters is it locks in new land management minimums for the property as a whole. Disney basically promised 8 billion dollars and capitulating in return to ensure they get to define the new TBD comprehensive plan like the old days... with their interests at the forefront.

Everything else is still as it was with the new District in power... the difference now is right now you have District management that is cooperating with Disney. It's just an example of how far things can swing based on the District's board... they can be completely antagonistic, or they can be completely submissive... all within the same structure.

Disney gets to lock up the master plan for the property - but everything else is still at the whim of the Governor because he can swap people to do whatever he pleases.

Disney promised to do things they were already going to do. It also doesn’t matter because even if Disney doesn’t do what they promised the district can’t prove otherwise until the development agreement expires anyway.

The board can’t do much of anything to antagonize Disney anymore. Disney was content to have the new board takeover with guardrails in place at the beginning of this mess.

And her job is only as secure as the Governor in office's latest itch. The anti-Disney stance of the last year plus was not because a rogue guy was hired as the district administrator... let's not forget that. Those people were just yes-men who were replaced just as fast as they were put in place when the agenda changed. That risk hasn't changed.

The Florida GOP are once again on Disney’s payroll. There is no risk so long as that continues.

 

[mkt]

According to the district it was an inappropriate perk to begin with. So I don’t think the firefighters will be getting their Disney perks back. They’re SOL.

They are not.

And the politization of day to day is affecting morale across the other civil servants. I personally know of two ex-RCID/current-CFTOD employees that are taking an early retirement and starting the same job with a different private or public sector enterprise in the area.

 

[Stripes]

And the new development is on the very shaky ground the old one was accused of being on. It’s supposed to be based on what exists and is instead based on the future.

What? The new development agreement is based on the existing 2020 Comprehensive plan. There’s just a blurb in there that the district and Disney will amend the agreement in order to give Disney even more development rights once the new comprehensive plan is effective.

 

[Batman'sParents]

Today is the first time the Board has gone over the proposed 2025 Millage Rates.

There is a lot of talk regarding investment in the district by taxpayers like Disney, Disney Springs operators, and hotel operators and the conversations they are having with them.

Given the ongoing and future investments needed in the district, in terms of setting the operating millage rate, there appears to be some support for option 1 and option 2:

Option 1: Set the Proposed Millage Rate to 14.40 mills. (Debt Service 4.17 mills/Operating 10.23 mills) This raises the Debt Service as needed and raises the Operating millage to fund a 5% increase in expenditures over the Fiscal Year 2023 millage rate.

Option 2: Set Proposed Millage Rate to 13.90 mills. (Debt Service 4.17 mills/Operating 9.73 mills) This raises the Debt Service rate as needed and allocates the remaining millage to Operating. This returns the millage rate to the same rate as Fiscal Year 2023.

The members of the Board were stressing this is not the final set rate and it can be lower. There appears to be more of a consensus that they want a lower rate, but want all available options. There was a slight hesitation between the members of the Board in choosing what options to set, notably, Board Members Barakat and Aungst were in more in favour of option 1, and board members Peri, Ziegler, and Mateer were more in favour of option 2.

After taking a vote to adopt option 1 failed by a vote of two to three, they adopted option 2.

BOS Packet: https://www.oversightdistrict.org/w...eeting-7-24-24-Draft-Agenda-Packet-PUBLIC.pdf

The proposed rates and options are on the second to last page.

 

[Batman'sParents]

There is a budget workshop on August 24, 2024.

 

[Stripes]

Today is the first time the Board has gone over the proposed 2025 Millage Rates.

There is a lot of talk regarding investment in the district by taxpayers like Disney, Disney Springs operators, and hotel operators and the conversations they are having with them.

Given the ongoing and future investments needed in the district, in terms of setting the operating millage rate, there appears to be some support for option 1 and option 2:

Option 1: Set the Proposed Millage Rate to 14.40 mills. (Debt Service 4.17 mills/Operating 10.23 mills) This raises the Debt Service as needed and raises the Operating millage to fund a 5% increase in expenditures over the Fiscal Year 2023 millage rate.

Option 2: Set Proposed Millage Rate to 13.90 mills. (Debt Service 4.17 mills/Operating 9.73 mills) This raises the Debt Service rate as needed and allocates the remaining millage to Operating. This returns the millage rate to the same rate as Fiscal Year 2023.

The members of the Board were stressing this is not the final set rate and it can be lower. There appears to be more of a consensus that they want a lower rate, but want all available options. There was a slight hesitation between the members of the Board in choosing what options to set, notably, Board Members Barakat and Aungst were in more in favour of option 1, and board members Peri, Ziegler, and Mateer were more in favour of option 2.

After taking a vote to adopt option 1 failed by a vote of two to three, they adopted option 2.

BOS Packet: https://www.oversightdistrict.org/w...eeting-7-24-24-Draft-Agenda-Packet-PUBLIC.pdf

The proposed rates and options are on the second to last page.

There was a lot of focus in the meeting on Disney’s plans to significantly increase investment and that these increased investments are going to require significant infrastructure projects to meet the needs of these Disney investments. The district administrator stressed that the district needs to prepare. RCES (a Disney subsidiary) also mentioned that they have been making changes to staffing structure and bulking up to prepare for Disney’s “upcoming property expansions.”

 

[JKick95]

How much about Disneys plans do they know? Should we take their comments as a positive of things to come?