lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The counties wouldn’t be operating Reedy Creek Energy Services. They could just let it continue to exist and do what it does.
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
Good points. RCES is a monster operation with the solid waste division - energy/waste plants , garbage/recycling roles, etc all at WDW. One not in the know would not know where all their facilities were at in WDW. It is not just making the magic, but hiding the magic too.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Golden Oak is not in the District as the owners would gain voting rights when they purchased the land. Same for Celebration. Both are de-annexed as part of the development process.
Being in the District isn’t an exemption from taxes, even county ones. Just recently Disney won a suit against the Orange County Property Appraiser because the power to set property tax rates remains with the county.
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
Curious, could the county simply bill Disney for services provided on Disney property rather than through taxes?
KrzyKtty
Well-Known Member
Doesn't that mean though that right now people living in that area get the benefit of fire services from Disney without having to pay for them? And while I do not live in Orange County, and therefore do not know much about their emergency services, there is no way that they would be able to disban the Disney fire and emergency services. They would have to absorb and pay for them which would come out of county taxes. But does in theory mean that people that live in those areas would have to finally pay for services that before they reaped the benefit of receiving but not paying for simply because Disney didn't want them to have voting rights. Or am I reading into this incorrectly? Not that I really care that much about their tax situation, this just goes back to those questions about the cost of despanding the district.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The residents don’t live within the District and aren’t receiving free services from the District. Golden Oaks residents are serviced by Orange County Fire Rescue and Celebration residents are serviced by Osceola County Fire Rescue & EMS. There are mutual aid agreements so it is possible that Reedy Creek Emergency Services could show up to a call in the area around the District but that is an existing relationship where the entities pay each other for help.
donsullivan
Premium Member
There is so much misinformation floating around this thread.
- Disney pays property taxes to both Orange and Osceola County for the portion of the properties in each county.
- Disney pays sales and use taxes to the state of Florida as well as the Orange and Osceola County sales tax options
- The statute that created RCID specifically excluded an authority for RCID to provide law enforcement services in the district. They pay the counties for those services.
- Emergency services from RCFD are part of standard mutual aid agreements in the event of demand in excess of their capacity. That is no different than any other fire department anywhere in the nation.
This whole mess is part of the current model of revenge politics being played in Florida right now and there are unfortunately few facts in the dialog, just attacks on anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
- Disney pays property taxes to both Orange and Osceola County for the portion of the properties in each county.
- Disney pays sales and use taxes to the state of Florida as well as the Orange and Osceola County sales tax options
- The statute that created RCID specifically excluded an authority for RCID to provide law enforcement services in the district. They pay the counties for those services.
- Emergency services from RCFD are part of standard mutual aid agreements in the event of demand in excess of their capacity. That is no different than any other fire department anywhere in the nation.
This whole mess is part of the current model of revenge politics being played in Florida right now and there are unfortunately few facts in the dialog, just attacks on anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
I thought it did allow them to create law enforcement but they decided against it because of the mess it could create
donsullivan
Premium Member
Some of the specific normal governmental services RCID is not authorized to provide:
• Authority to issue business and professional licenses as well as col- lect related fees;180
• Authority to build and maintain health care facilities, including hospitals and health care research facilities;181
• Authority to provide police services;182
• Authority to regulate the manufacturing and sale of alcohol;183 and
• Authority to establish and operate a municipal court, including appointment of a municipal judge and city prosecutor.184
A really good review of the law that created RCID can be found at
The specific bullets above are on page 198
Joel
Well-Known Member
Color me skeptical when so much of the talk on this issue paints RCID as one of the greatest examples of corporate generosity in world history. I can buy the idea that it's been a mutually beneficial relationship over the years, but forgive me for assuming it hasn't been a much better deal for Disney. Corporations aren't known for getting into bad arrangements and then continuing them for decades on end for no benefit.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Who has said anything about generosity or that there is not a benefit for Disney? The current discussions that were announced are not in response to any inappropriate actions undertaken by the District.
Joel
Well-Known Member
Forgive me if I'm misreading this myself, but a quick glance through this section in context leads me to believe you're mistaken on this. Those are exceptions listed in the legislation establishing the two municipalities within the district, not the district as a whole. That list is immediately followed by this paragraph (emphasis mine):
In other words, the district could provide its own police services (or hospitals, courts, etc.), but Disney has (probably wisely) chosen not to.
It would just make more efficient sense and life saving if Reedy Creek responded to a Golden Oak incident. RC could be at Golden Oak within minutes.
harryk
Well-Known Member
I've seen it happen in the past.
I don't think paying more taxes at Golden Oak would even make the residents blink an eye . Their $3M-$25M home is probably a second , third or fourth home for the millionaire and billionaire residents of GO.
Chip Chipperson
Well-Known Member
Chip Chipperson
Well-Known Member
Only if they do the same for other commercial properties. If not, then it would be very difficult for the County to justify.
I can see that reheated, undercooked Flintstone size turkey leg at MK going up in price.
Joel
Well-Known Member
Forgive the hyperbole, but a lot of the responses to this news (here and elsewhere) are solely focused on what a raw deal this (which isn't going to happen, anyway) would supposedly be for the people of Orange/Osceola counties and Florida as a whole. And maybe it would be! But a little more skepticism when it comes to corporate-government dealings is needed IMO. You see a lot of the same rhetoric when it comes time for taxpayers to foot the bill for a new sports stadium.
Besides, if people really wanted to punish Disney, they'd be pushing for copyright reform.
The real threat to Disney with this, is the loss of control of zoning and land use. Disney pretty much can do anything it wants from Roads to building locations to reclaiming wetlands to utilities on its property. Loosing that would be a major blow.