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

[EricsBiscuit]

Other businesses can get similar districts created. The District means that Disney is the one paying for all sorts of things that the counties would otherwise have to finance. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t be complaining that the counties were building new roads and overpasses for the near exclusive use of Disney.


What loopholes. Give us specifics. What taxes are the counties prohibited from collecting due to the District?

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I dont know about that, but i wonder what the impact would be on changing over things to meet state regulations including potential things like road signs, power plants, road design and construction, and other infrastructure demands. For some reason, i doubt the ivy league elite governor has had all of this researched out.

Ha, there was no research! This was only a punch back from the Governor. No research or thought put into it..

 

[lazyboy97o]

I dont know about that, but i wonder what the impact would be on changing over things to meet state regulations including potential things like road signs, power plants, road design and construction, and other infrastructure demands. For some reason, i doubt the ivy league elite governor has had all of this researched out.

The District is not exempt from state law and regulations. Reedy Creek Energy Services is not exempt from state law and utility regulations. The EPCOT Building Code is not less restrictive than the Florida Building Code.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

No, he repeated talked points and dismissed the statements of the official who would be most familiar with Orange County taxes. Give us a specific examples.

Why are you not criticizing that The Villages will still have its special privileges?

 

[Lilofan]

No, he did not. The appraisals Disney challenged were for specific years and Disney was not alone in successfully contesting his appraisals during that time period.

Not a surprise Disney got their way in court ruling judge to pay lower taxes in regards to appraisals items

 

[Tha Realest]

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

Are we to believe whatever internal costs Disney incurred from its management of RCID they just ate and did not pass on to customers?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Not a surprise Disney got their way in court ruling to pay lower taxes.

Again, you are completely misconstruing what occurred. It was not a Disney centric issue.

 

[flynnibus]

RCID is budgeting Instead of paying RCID, these businesses and residents would pay their taxes directly to Orange County.

The tax rcid gets today woukd not be paid to orange because it’s a ad valorem tax that doesn’t exist for orange.

 

[JohnD]

That’s if RCID actually ends up gone. There will be legal challenges and then this pesky state law.

View attachment 634567

That "pesky state law" to which you refer is Section 189.072(2)(a) which you know quite well because you copied and pasted precisely from the Statute where you conveniently left out the context. You probably also know that the "pesky state law" is mentioned in the bill as "notwithstanding", meaning this bill is superseding the Statute. The Legislature passed the original Statute. The Legislature can supersede it in a law.

Bill
(2) Notwithstanding s. 189.072(2), any independent special district established by a special act prior to the date of ratification of the Florida Constitution on November 5, 1968, and which was not reestablished, re-ratified, or otherwise reconstituted by a special act or general law after November 5, 1968, is dissolved effective June 1, 2023.

Statute
189.072 Dissolution of an independent special district.—
(1) VOLUNTARY DISSOLUTION.—If the governing body of an independent special district created and operating pursuant to a special act elects, by a majority vote plus one, to dissolve the district, the voluntary dissolution of an independent special district created and operating pursuant to a special act may be effectuated only by the Legislature unless otherwise provided by general law.
(2) OTHER DISSOLUTIONS.—
(a) In order for the Legislature to dissolve an active independent special district created and operating pursuant to a special act, the special act dissolving the active independent special district must be approved by a majority of the resident electors of the district or, for districts in which a majority of governing body members are elected by landowners, a majority of the landowners voting in the same manner by which the independent special district’s governing body is elected. If a local general-purpose government passes an ordinance or resolution in support of the dissolution, the local general-purpose government must pay any expenses associated with the referendum required under this paragraph.

 

[jimbojones]

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

I generally agree with that sentiment, however I think benefits of deals like this for the public are sometimes worth it. In the case of WDW the deal they got essentially created a whole industry in Florida and built the entire Orlando area's economy. I recall visiting Orlando in the early 80s as a kid and it was swamp and forest and Disney, there was not a whole lot else going on. Florida has benefited massively from the support given to WDW

 

[Disstevefan1]

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

Interesting discussion. In 1967 when TWDC wanted to convert the useless swamp land to what would become the number one vacation destination in the world, I think it was smart to give the privileges but perhaps there should have been an expire date somehow.

As for WDW raising prices, LOL, they never needed an excuse to raise them multiple times a year, so even if this didn't happen WDW was going to raise prices anyway.

Now they have an excuse:
Cuts to everything, WDW blames on COVID.
Prices raised on everything, WDW can now blame on DeSantis.

Who are the losers; WDW guests and the taxpayers of Florida.

Disney wins again.

 

[Disstevefan1]

The District is not exempt from state law and regulations. Reedy Creek Energy Services is not exempt from state law and utility regulations. The EPCOT Building Code is not less restrictive than the Florida Building Code.

Laws are made to be broken

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I generally agree with that sentiment, however I think benefits of deals like this for the public are sometimes worth it. In the case of WDW the deal they got essentially created a whole industry in Florida and built the entire Orlando area's economy. I recall visiting Orlando in the early 80s as a kid and it was swamp and forest and Disney, there was not a whole lot else going on. Florida has benefited massively from the support given to WDW

Yep. If Disney doesn't build WDW in Central FL then there is no Sea World Orlando, no Universal Orlando, and no Lego Land Florida. Some of them may still exist, but likely in a different location and certainly with fewer visitors if there's no WDW to draw families to the area.

 

[peter11435]

You’re buying the Disney PR spin hook line and sinker. Parentsof64 spelled it out earlier in this thread. He’s also right that the increased taxes Disney will have to pay will be shifted to the consumer. It will be more expensive to go to Disney. But Disney should not have been given special privileges in the first place.

What increased taxes do you think Disney will have to pay?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yep. If Disney doesn't build WDW in Central FL then there is no Sea World Orlando, no Universal Orlando, and no Lego Land Florida. Some of them may still exist, but likely in a different location and certainly with fewer visitors if there's no WDW to draw families to the area.

As Cypress Gardens, Legoland Florida technically pre-dates Walt Disney World by a few decades.

 

[The Mom]

This is a discussion of plan to dismantle RCID only - not the events leading up to it. I know it's difficult to separate the two, but please try if you want to participate. Thank you.

 

[Animal_Kingdom_09]

Why do you keep saying this? It isn't true. Disney already pays taxes to the counties. They would not be able to be charged additional taxes.

Hard to tell if this has already been answered - sorry if it has. It is true that the **ad valorem" taxes, the one's based on the property value, have to be equitably applied to all taxpayers. But, the debt service for Reedy Creek is done through special assessment taxes, which are not ad valorem taxes. The special assessments will most likely be transferred out of Reddy Creek to Orange/Osceola counties and still be assessed to the various property owners in Reedy Creek. The special assessment laws are not being changed by the proposed bill.

The problem that dissolving the district creates for Disney is in the future. Unless they set up a CDD to take its place, they will not be able to pay for future infrastructure projects with what are essentially municipal bonds.

As for the frequently mentioned requirement that the landholders must approve the dissolution, the Senate bill amends the statute to eliminate that requirement.

 

[ppete1975]

I would love to see the original documents, you would have thought that when Disney came to florida it would have been a 100 year deal, or lifetime. What Disney did for Florida is insane... imagine if they hadnt come to Florida. I am shocked this has gone as far as it has from a legal point of view and that this was even an option for Florida to remove the district.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I would love to see the original documents,

They’re on the District’s home page.

https://www.rcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/RCID-Charter.pdf

 

[peter11435]

I would love to see the original documents, you would have thought that when Disney came to florida it would have been a 100 year deal, or lifetime. What Disney did for Florida is insane... imagine if they hadnt come to Florida. I am shocked this has gone as far as it has from a legal point of view and that this was even an option for Florida to remove the district.

The original document is publicly available for all to see. The original deal was for the district to exist perpetually.