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

MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
True, by having the RCID, Disney got access to being able to produce municipal bonds as a way to have cheap and readily accessible loans. An advantage that other private companies don't have... BUT...

Let's say SeaWorld says to Orange County: "We need new roads with dedicated bus lanes to support the boom in our business, and since you're the county, you're responsible for providing such infrastructure to a big taxpayer like us."

Then Orange County says: "But our budget is really tight and we can't afford it. And if we take out municipal bonds to bankroll the project, we still won't have enough in our budget to pay back those bonds."

Then SeaWorld says, "Hmmm... how about we pay those bonds over time by paying you a 'fee' for those roads that equals the cost of those bonds over time?"

Then Orange County can say, "OK!"

IOW, a private company can make a deal with their county/municipality for extra service if they pay for it, and the county/municipality can fund it with municipal bonds which is being paid off by the private company's "fees" for that extra service.

Right now Universal is paying extra to the county (or town?) for their new roads with dedicated bus lanes for Epic Universe. And if they wanted to, Orange County can fund it with municipal bonds, which will be paid off with the extra fees it's charging EU for the roads.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. This is all really semantics and optics. But also, I think that EU/Uni deal with Orange County actually sits within a special district.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
lentesta said:
Okay, I need to hear this story.
Click to expand...
You are probably aware that a large portion of the property…I believe the “irlo Bronson tract” was being used as an industrial fertilizer farm in addition to cow pastures…

This was the mid 20th century…so “fertilizer” was some pretty nasty stuff (as it is still)…phosphorus and nitrates in batch quantities. Not good…for any land and anything.

So two laws were passed in 1973 that tie into this story…
NESHAPS (the asbestos/fiberglass/dust one)
And RCRA - resource conservation recovery act….that’s the industrial contamination/cleanup one…

Those two laws created their own agency…the US Environmental Protection Agency.

RCRA was the basis for SUPERFUND…the federal cleanup of toxic sites. Brownfields and Greyfields.

am I saying that wdw is built at least partially on what would have been a toxic dump by law after 1973?
Why yes I am.

So…that’s even more evidence of the need for RCID and Disney in Florida. They did something the state NEVER could have paid for before it’s time: a complete environmental rehab.

Those men…Walt’s men…were amazing…lest we forget
 
G

GBAB1973

Well-Known Member
MagicHappens1971 said:
Even so, Disneys pays nearly 88% of RCIDs taxes, so their taxes paid for those garages. The technicalities come down to the fact that really municipal bonds paid for those garages and a private company can’t take out municipal bonds, but I digress. As I feel the benefits to FL, Orange & Osceola counties far outweigh any of this partisan nonsense about Disneys tax bill.
Click to expand...

And I get it. Disney isn't exactly your squeaky clean company and they are going to take advantage of any loophole they can find or grease the right palm to get something they want but that's not unique to Disney and it's certainly not unique to most large corporations operating in Florida.

But the reality is, without Disney and their investment decaded ago, that are of Florida would't even come close to looking like it does now. The amount of economic growth in that area outside the RCID due to Disney is immense. And I am not saying that to suggest you just bow down at the foot of Disney, but it is still a statement of fact............. Disney has singlehandedly transformed that part of Florida for the better.
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
GBAB1973 said:
And I get it. Disney isn't exactly your squeaky clean company and they are going to take advantage of any loophole they can find or grease the right palm to get something they want but that's not unique to Disney and it's certainly not unique to most large corporations operating in Florida.

But the reality is, without Disney and their investment decaded ago, that are of Florida would't even come close to looking like it does now. The amount of economic growth in that area outside the RCID due to Disney is immense. And I am not saying that to suggest you just bow down at the foot of Disney, but it is still a statement of fact............. Disney has singlehandedly transformed that part of Florida for the better.
Click to expand...
Leaving Disney alone wouldn’t have been “bowing down”, I’m not sure if that’s what you meant. But Disney didn’t do anything wrong, they were operating as they were for the past half a century, and then voiced an opinion. Orlando would be nothing without Disney & RCID.
 
G

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
You are probably aware that a large portion of the property…I believe the “irlo Bronson tract” was being used as an industrial fertilizer farm in addition to cow pastures…

This was the mid 20th century…so “fertilizer” was some pretty nasty stuff (as it is still)…phosphorus and nitrates in batch quantities. Not good…for any land and anything.

So two laws were passed in 1973 that tie into this story…
NESHAPS (the asbestos/fiberglass/dust one)
And RCRA - resource conservation recovery act….that’s the industrial contamination/cleanup one…

Those two laws created their own agency…the US Environmental Protection Agency.

RCRA was the basis for SUPERFUND…the federal cleanup of toxic sites. Brownfields and Greyfields.

am I saying that wdw is built at least partially on what would have been a toxic dump by law after 1973?
Why yes I am.

So…that’s even more evidence of the need for RCID and Disney in Florida. They did something the state NEVER could have paid for before it’s time: a complete environmental rehab.

Those men…Walt’s men…were amazing…lest we forget
Click to expand...
You are correct about the good old days. Too bad the current batch of management are incompetents.
 
G

GBAB1973

Well-Known Member
MagicHappens1971 said:
Leaving Disney alone wouldn’t have been “bowing down”, I’m not sure if that’s what you meant. But Disney didn’t do anything wrong, they were operating as they were for the past half a century, and then voiced an opinion. Orlando would be nothing without Disney & RCID.
Click to expand...

My comment was crude, I was just saying that you don't have to be thanking Disney at every turn for what they did or praise them constantly or consider them the savior of Central Florida and that you should never question anything they do because of that.

But the reality is if Disney never set foot in Central Florida, that part of the state would look very different today.
 
Smiley/OCD

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
MagicHappens1971 said:
I believe it would effectively reinstate RCID as it was.

All hypotheticals, but it’s been theorized that a judge could issue a “cooling down” period where the legislature would be unable to do anything regarding RCID for X amount of time. The legislature also would not be able to do the exact same thing they just did (to my understanding) if Disney wins. The suit is also trying to have the legislatures void of the developers agreement overturned as well. It could be said they don’t really care about the development agreement because if they win they don’t need it. Just doesn’t make sense to sue multiple times, so they put everything in there.
Click to expand...
So all the RCID signs are going into storage…
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
MagicHappens1971 said:
Oh yeah. This is all really semantics and optics. But also, I think that EU/Uni deal with Orange County actually sits within a special district.
Click to expand...
Not yet. One has been proposed to fund transit services (the station that will be more than SunRail’s typical covered platforms, and likely more frequent service). The Kirkman Rd extension isn’t just funded by Universal though, it’s being built by them which allowed it to skip the line of county projects.
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Not yet. One has been proposed to fund transit services (the station that will be more than SunRail’s typical covered platforms, and likely more frequent service). The Kirkman Rd extension isn’t just funded by Universal though, it’s being built by them which allowed it to skip the line of county projects.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I wasn’t 100% sure.
 
R

RamblinWreck

Well-Known Member


One advantage of suing a politician I guess is that he’s almost guaranteed to keep running his mouth about it publicly.

I wonder though about his continued repetition of the idea that Disney is just being made to play by the same rules as everyone else.

Obviously, that isn’t remotely true. But as a non-lawyer who has been interested in some of the analysis on this, is it possible that a judge could come to the conclusion that there is legitimacy in making Disney play by the same rules, and order some kind of change to what FL did without fully reconstituting RCID as it was?

Some kind of more reasonable middle ground where instead of the district being 100% controlled by Disney or 100% controlled by one man (DeSantis) that the board be comprised in some other way?
 
F

fgmnt

Well-Known Member
MagicHappens1971 said:
Even so, Disneys pays nearly 88% of RCIDs taxes, so their taxes paid for those garages. The technicalities come down to the fact that really municipal bonds paid for those garages and a private company can’t take out municipal bonds, but I digress. As I feel the benefits to FL, Orange & Osceola counties far outweigh any of this partisan nonsense about Disneys tax bill.
Click to expand...
I think it was brought up a couple times in the previous 800 pages that the legislature looked into whether or not they were getting screwed over with the RCID structure 25 or so years ago and found out it was probably still the best deal available. I wish there were some things Disney should be more forcefully compelled to develop (ie every capital expansion that promises x number of workers, Disney should be required to match some % of x with LIHTC units in Orange and Osceola) but the state business case for RCID has always been sound.
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
fgmnt said:
I think it was brought up a couple times in the previous 800 pages that the legislature looked into whether or not they were getting screwed over with the RCID structure 25 or so years ago and found out it was probably still the best deal available. I wish there were some things Disney should be more forcefully compelled to develop (ie every capital expansion that promises x number of workers, Disney should be required to match some % of x with LIHTC units in Orange and Osceola) but the state business case for RCID has always been sound.
Click to expand...
I’ve done extensive research on RCID and have posted findings in the 100s of pages of this thread, in 2004 the Government accountability office drafted a report outlining the benefits of RCID, how it works, and how it serves the original purpose written in the founding act back in the 60s. I’m the late 60s the legislature challenged RCIDs existence and the FL Supreme Court ruled in favor of RCID/Disney.

While I also hope for more affordable housing in Orlando, I don’t think a private company is responsible for providing it, nor should they be forced to. Even without being compelled Disney is actively working on affordable housing anyway.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom