Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Good to know. Too bad RCID is getting removed....
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
See Disney wins again and of course the taxpayer loses.
WDWJoeG
Well-Known Member
Exactly it's a huge win for Disney - that's why with all of their political clout and lobbyists they've been working for decades to get rid of RCID.
Oh wait, they didn't.
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Brian
Well-Known Member
The Villages' special districts don't serve a Fortune 500 company generating billions in revenue each year. They serve the needs of ordinary individual Floridians.
Nobody can honestly make the argument that RCID doesn't exist to serve the needs of Disney.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District has nothing to do with how much cast members make
peter11435
Well-Known Member
A case can be made that RCID exists to serve the millions of tourists from Florida and around the world that come to the district and add billions to the Florida economy and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
The only thing I can think of that really would hurt Disney by doing this is that the financing for infrastructure projects (such as the Disney Springs garages) would have to be financed in a normal fashion instead of being financed through municipal bonds.
I don't have time to look into RCID bonds at the moment but if they are tax free municipal bonds then there is a huge benefit to Disney because they are issued at lower interest rates because the bond holders don't have to pay tax on the interest. If this is what they do, they can do things like finance a garage at 3% instead of 5.5% or whatever the going rate is for Disney corporate bonds. On projects that cost tens of millions of dollars, that savings adds up.
Also, Orange County won't repave World Drive as an example because it is a private road in the same way that private developments within the county have to repave their own roads when necessary. With RCID under their control, they can have RCID contract the work. Even though Disney pays for it via taxes to RCID, the cost would be lower assuming they are using tax free municipal bonds.
I don't have time to look into RCID bonds at the moment but if they are tax free municipal bonds then there is a huge benefit to Disney because they are issued at lower interest rates because the bond holders don't have to pay tax on the interest. If this is what they do, they can do things like finance a garage at 3% instead of 5.5% or whatever the going rate is for Disney corporate bonds. On projects that cost tens of millions of dollars, that savings adds up.
Also, Orange County won't repave World Drive as an example because it is a private road in the same way that private developments within the county have to repave their own roads when necessary. With RCID under their control, they can have RCID contract the work. Even though Disney pays for it via taxes to RCID, the cost would be lower assuming they are using tax free municipal bonds.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The multiple special districts, special zoning, etc. of The Villages all very much serve the interests of the Morse family who continue to exercise great control over the area.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
World Drive is not a private road. Its a public road owned and maintained by the reedy creek improvement district. If the district is dissolved it would become a public road owned and maintained by the county.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Disney/Florida is getting tons of press today
None of it is remotely “good”
None of it is remotely “good”
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
I wonder if they could "borrow" it from Disney with a repayment due date of June 2nd 2023.
Brian
Well-Known Member
Fair point, and I'm inclined to agree since it's very hard to argue that Disney's existence doesn't support the state and local economy in considerable ways, but I think the case can also be made that special districts like that which make up The Villages and, for example, the one (Community Development District) I live in, serve the needs of individual homeowners and those that need the support, as opposed to RCID which supports an incredibly wealthy and influential corporation.
For example, my CDD was established to finance the infrastructure needed to support a residential community. My real estate agent explained to me that if the developers were responsible for building that infrastructure themselves, my builder and most other small builders simply wouldn't be able to afford to build, because the costs of that infrastructure would have to be tacked onto the cost of the home and they can't lower their prices enough to compete with the likes of Lennar and DR Horton, who are popping up around every corner. Homeowners like me pay back the cost of the infrastructure debt that the CDD manages over the course of a fixed term, making it possible for small builders to build and families to have a fair amount of choices when it comes to building their homes. Further, the CDD handles ongoing maintenance of that infrastructure, which is typically billed to homeowners separate from the debt.
Disney has the resources they need at this point to support their ongoing infrastructure needs themselves, and can certainly foot the bill for new infrastructure. I mentioned way earlier in this thread that RCID built Disney three Disney Springs parking garages at zero direct cost to the company with tax-free money; a company with the resources like Disney shouldn't be getting freebies like that, in my opinion. Whereas, special districts like those which make up The Villages and most new home developments in Central Florida arguably require the type of support that special districts provide it in order to build and sustain themselves.
The Morse family is not a Fortune 500 company generating billions of dollars in revenue each year. My overall point is that Disney doesn't need its hand held anymore to maintain WDW. Residential developments do. I'm not familiar with The Villages' financials, but I am positive that they didn't have $67 billion in revenue last year to work with.
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el_super
Well-Known Member
I am finding nothing to suggest otherwise. Has Disney released any kind of statement against this plan?
That's not entirely fair. The downside to repealing RCID, would be foisting financial burden onto the tax payers. In any normal circumstance, that would be a bad look for Disney and bad PR for little long term gain. If the issue is forced onto them, they escape the bad PR.
ppete1975
Well-Known Member
thats what i thought, so for the lawyers.. where does disney stand?
Archie123
Well-Known Member
Nothing new. Florida hasn’t gotten good press in a very long time.
Brian
Well-Known Member
Not a lawyer (I only play one on TV), but it's notable that Disney hasn't registered any of it's lobbyists on this bill, at least as of this writing.
DeSantis did not just win the hearts and minds of people , influenced the legislators but what he’s doing is huge and nationwide news. I don’t agree with this but it is very news worthy.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Yeah, but then you can also point to all the other tourism that now happens WITHOUT RCID
And you could make the argument that RCID served more of a purpose when Disney was starting from scratch... but now almost 50 years later are the same needs still present? Or can this tourism magnet continue to thrive under regulation shared with everyone else?
If one takes away the 'dumping effect' dissolution has on Orange and Osceola, it's an interesting debate to question "Are we better off without the improvement district as implement?". It's also a hard debate when there aren't really high impact consequences to the counties right now.. which really steers you towards "why change?".. unless there were unresolved issues or desirable revenue streams they were seeking.
I can certainly understand the counties wanting nothing to do with this because it represents a major shift they aren't inviting themselves.