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

[LAKid53]

One of the points the speaker made was around the state would remove LGBTIQA+++++++ and put them into care.

Civil action would of taken too long ... I am surprised they haven't introduced a state income tax exclusively for Disney employees though

The Florida Constitution prohibits a state income tax. The ONLY people who can change that are voters, by a Yes vote of at least 60% of those who voted.

Won't happen.

 

[LAKid53]

A constitutional change can't be done by the legislature and governor alone. It requires a popular refendum and 60% of the vote to pass.

However, the Legislature has increased the requirements for citizen driven initiatives to get on the ballot.

 

[BoardroomBrad]

I do wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Bob. I sure hope so.

I think it’s finally time for me to spill. His end came long ago.

 

[mikejs78]

So what I've learned from doing research (anyone with more knowledge of Reedy Creek, please correct any errors below):

• Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties - as well as to Reedy Creek. The counties don't get to assess any new taxes on Disney to cover the services that they would have to absorb. Since you can't just raise taxes on one entity they would have to raise taxes either on all businesses or on all residents. Additionally, a provision in the FL state Constitution caps the amount that any business/entity's property taxes can go up in a given year. So to cover the services that Disney pays Reedy Creek for today, it would cost all taxpayers ~ $2500 a year in additional property taxes.
• There is still the question of whether or not the legislature can do this without the majority vote of all residents of the district.
• The districts would also have to assume the $2B in bonds that Reedy Creek has floated.
• What Disney would lose from this, primarily, is speed. Being able to avoid construction bureaucracy, and being able to control construction on things like roads and infrastructure (they may have to wait for the counties to do some of this construction, not sure how much of things like roads and infrastructure are controlled/managed by Reedy Creek vs Disney). Financially, Disney would be paying more but not a ridiculous amount more.

Seems to me like this was a decision to shoot first, ask questions later. A mandate with no plan on how to actually implement it.

 

[mkt]

So what I've learned from doing research (anyone with more knowledge of Reedy Creek, please correct any errors below):

• Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties - as well as to Reedy Creek. The counties don't get to assess any new taxes on Disney to cover the services that they would have to absorb. Since you can't just raise taxes on one entity they would have to raise taxes either on all businesses or on all residents. Additionally, a provision in the FL state Constitution caps the amount that any business/entity's property taxes can go up in a given year. So to cover the services that Disney pays Reedy Creek for today, it would cost all taxpayers ~ $2500 a year in additional property taxes.
• There is still the question of whether or not the legislature can do this without the majority vote of all residents of the district.
• The districts would also have to assume the $2B in bonds that Reedy Creek has floated.
• What Disney would lose from this, primarily, is speed. Being able to avoid construction bureaucracy, and being able to control construction on things like roads and infrastructure (they may have to wait for the counties to do some of this construction, not sure how much of things like roads and infrastructure are controlled/managed by Reedy Creek vs Disney). Financially, Disney would be paying more but not a ridiculous amount more.

Seems to me like this was a decision to shoot first, ask questions later. A mandate with no plan on how to actually implement it.

Quoted for posterity.

 

[TikibirdLand]

A $2200 tax hike for every Orange and Osceola county family - yikes!

So much for fiscal conservatism.

Sounds like random rants from a liberal Florida state senator. I think Mary Ellen Klas needs to do a bit of research and verify those claims.

 

[mikejs78]

Before the legislation passed, Chapek should have sent out a statement along the lines of "While Disney supports parent rights and believes all discussions of sexuality should be age-appropriate, the legislation as proposed is too vague and could have potentially negative consequences on our LGBTQ employees. Because of this, we oppose this legislation as presented."

Obviously, it's too late for that, but, hindsight is 2020.

We can all agree that Bob handled this horribly. That doesn't excuse what the Governor is doing right now.

I do wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Bob. I sure hope so.

Might be the one net positive from this whole mess.

 

[TikibirdLand]

So what I've learned from doing research (anyone with more knowledge of Reedy Creek, please correct any errors below):

• Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties - as well as to Reedy Creek. The counties don't get to assess any new taxes on Disney to cover the services that they would have to absorb. Since you can't just raise taxes on one entity they would have to raise taxes either on all businesses or on all residents. Additionally, a provision in the FL state Constitution caps the amount that any business/entity's property taxes can go up in a given year. So to cover the services that Disney pays Reedy Creek for today, it would cost all taxpayers ~ $2500 a year in additional property taxes.
• There is still the question of whether or not the legislature can do this without the majority vote of all residents of the district.
• The districts would also have to assume the $2B in bonds that Reedy Creek has floated.
• What Disney would lose from this, primarily, is speed. Being able to avoid construction bureaucracy, and being able to control construction on things like roads and infrastructure (they may have to wait for the counties to do some of this construction, not sure how much of things like roads and infrastructure are controlled/managed by Reedy Creek vs Disney). Financially, Disney would be paying more but not a ridiculous amount more.

Seems to me like this was a decision to shoot first, ask questions later. A mandate with no plan on how to actually implement it.

Can you provide links to the $2,500 /yr number you're quoting there? I see a lot of numbers like that thrown around without attribution...

 

[Ghost93]

So what I've learned from doing research (anyone with more knowledge of Reedy Creek, please correct any errors below):

• Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties - as well as to Reedy Creek. The counties don't get to assess any new taxes on Disney to cover the services that they would have to absorb. Since you can't just raise taxes on one entity they would have to raise taxes either on all businesses or on all residents. Additionally, a provision in the FL state Constitution caps the amount that any business/entity's property taxes can go up in a given year. So to cover the services that Disney pays Reedy Creek for today, it would cost all taxpayers ~ $2500 a year in additional property taxes.
• There is still the question of whether or not the legislature can do this without the majority vote of all residents of the district.
• The districts would also have to assume the $2B in bonds that Reedy Creek has floated.
• What Disney would lose from this, primarily, is speed. Being able to avoid construction bureaucracy, and being able to control construction on things like roads and infrastructure (they may have to wait for the counties to do some of this construction, not sure how much of things like roads and infrastructure are controlled/managed by Reedy Creek vs Disney). Financially, Disney would be paying more but not a ridiculous amount more.

Seems to me like this was a decision to shoot first, ask questions later. A mandate with no plan on how to actually implement it.

As a general fan of the parks, the lack of speed on projects would be the biggest disappointing feature. Things are slow enough as is!

 

[castlecake2.0]

So what I've learned from doing research (anyone with more knowledge of Reedy Creek, please correct any errors below):

• Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties - as well as to Reedy Creek. The counties don't get to assess any new taxes on Disney to cover the services that they would have to absorb. Since you can't just raise taxes on one entity they would have to raise taxes either on all businesses or on all residents. Additionally, a provision in the FL state Constitution caps the amount that any business/entity's property taxes can go up in a given year. So to cover the services that Disney pays Reedy Creek for today, it would cost all taxpayers ~ $2500 a year in additional property taxes.
• There is still the question of whether or not the legislature can do this without the majority vote of all residents of the district.
• The districts would also have to assume the $2B in bonds that Reedy Creek has floated.
• What Disney would lose from this, primarily, is speed. Being able to avoid construction bureaucracy, and being able to control construction on things like roads and infrastructure (they may have to wait for the counties to do some of this construction, not sure how much of things like roads and infrastructure are controlled/managed by Reedy Creek vs Disney). Financially, Disney would be paying more but not a ridiculous amount more.

Seems to me like this was a decision to shoot first, ask questions later. A mandate with no plan on how to actually implement it.

Another question I’d want to research is what happens to all the land RCID manages that creates the berm around WDW and Celebration? Who would control that?

 

[TikibirdLand]

Yes.
I also see them donating a lot to every challenger to DeSantis and the state reps and senators who voted for this.

This is happening in Texas today with Gregg Abbott. Those that oppose the orders he's put on the books continue to back candidates like Beto O'Rourke, to their detriment. We see this at the national level too. DeSantis and Abbott are comfortable in their positions; rightly so.

 

[LAKid53]

The year before the Florida Constitution was ratified. It's defensible for a bona fide reason.

Every 20 years, a commission is formed to review the Constitution for revision.

The Florida Supreme Court previously upheld the legality of RCID. There's an AG opinion affirming that.

 

[BoardroomBrad]

Yes.
I also see them donating a lot to every challenger to DeSantis and the state reps and senators who voted for this.

I don’t understand why people keep underestimating how petty a multi-national corporation can be.

 

[LAKid53]

For those who are unclear what powers RCID has, Florida Statute, when allowing the creation of special districts - there are around 1100 of them in the state - basically grants a special district the same authority as a county or municipality. There's a charter outlining RCID's powers.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Every 20 years, a commission is formed to review the Constitution for revision.

The Florida Supreme Court previously upheld the legality of RCID. There's an AG opinion affirming that.

Florida v. Reedy Creek Improvement District also touches on a lot of the pretexts outside of being prior to 1968 being given to justify the dissolution.

 

[Rickcat96]

The bigger picture is damage to the brand.

 

[Surferboy567]

This is a dumb question. I haven’t seen it mentioned though.

Would runDisney still be allowed to operate? Is it still Disney’s roads?

EDIT: Are we looking at an Anaheim situation where they say the races would come back but don’t (at least for now)?

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is a dumb question. I haven’t seen it mentioned though.

Would runDisney still be allowed to operate? Is it still Disney’s roads?

Yes, race events happen in Florida outside Walt Disney World.

 

[orky8]

So with GOP controlling the house too... no predictions on a fast passage there as well?

This has been rebranded lightning lane. No real changes, just new name and an upcharge.

 

[BoardroomBrad]

Would runDisney still be allowed to operate? Is it still Disney’s roads?

Disney would no longer own the roads. Thus, it’s very likely runDisney would no longer be possible.