MrPromey
Well-Known Member
You joined this forum 12 minutes ago to let us all know you're deleting your account?
... Your pithy and insightful posts will be missed.
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
... Your pithy and insightful posts will be missed.
disneyC97
Well-Known Member
Technically Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, so you're in the wrong part of the forums.
WDW is the most magical place on earth...despite what this new board is trying to do
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Asilgrass1
New Member
I’ve had this app for about six years. I don’t care about this forum. I never come here to the forum because I don’t care about this. But I open the WDWMAGIC app to see news about rides, hotels and menus and 6 out of the last 12 headlines in 2 days have been on this topic. That is what I’m leaving. The app.
Disney World firefighters speak out against DeSantis' CFTOD stripping employees and retirees of their Disney annual pass benefits
Disney World firefighters speak out against DeSantis' CFTOD stripping employees and retirees of their Disney annual pass benefits
Disney World firefighters speak out against DeSantis' CFTOD stripping employees and retirees of their Disney annual pass benefitswww.wdwmagic.com
We never thought the leopards would eat OUR faces!
yea my wife gets a free Florida teacher pass (essentially a bronze pass) to Seaworld as a Florida teacher done through Govx.
GrumpyFan
Well-Known Member
I had two kids that went thru the DCP, and I did their taxes. I went back and looked at their W2s and there wasn't any special benefits noted on them that would account for it. I assume it's just a non-taxable perk/benefit that's given to their employees.
Nevermore525
Active Member
The new board has been the headline of the last 2 days. Hard to ignore it.
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
How often do you come to this site? Odd statement considering you are new to this site as of 30 minutes ago.
No offense (but actually yes) there are hundreds of threads to see news about the happiest place on earth. The fact is many posters do not consider this change to be good news .
Posts are being edited or deleted when they become TOO political (accepting that the whole issue is political) and posts that "attack" the Governor are weeded out - eventually.
Sorry I was busy for a couple of hours cleaning house so I couldn't clean the forum. It has happened before, and will happen again. The fact that a post is not deleted doesn't mean it is acceptable - most of the time it means I just haven't seen it yet.
Stripes
Premium Member
By law, the new board is not accountable to anyone but the governor of Florida. They have no incentive to care about responsible spending or reasonable tax rates. They are simply on a vindictive mission to harm Disney. Everything they do is oriented towards that objective. In this case, the firefighters and RCID employees were collateral damage. Not to say that Disney cares one bit about the heavily discounted benefits RCID was receiving. $2.5 million per year is nothing to Disney.
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Please don't delete wdwmagic.com
Figgy1
Premium Member
How did it take the board this long to figure out what in their employees compensation package. Sometimes I think they're phoning it in, we know one is
A discount program would never have the same value as the benefit being removed. They could try to craft it to fill the gap between what was lost and any cash value employees are getting instead. But, it all sounds silly. Disney has a program to allow employers to provide this benefit. CFTOD is choosing not to.
Beyond that, they would need to craft who a new discount program is available too. Creating one that's specifically for "CFTOD Employees" and nobody else would likely run into the same direct employee gifting issues.
Available to anyone who works in the district? - That's going to include lots of other people and compete with the existing program.
Available to only government employees that work within the district? - Maybe. It would at least reduce the total number of employees. But, it still opens it up to lots more.
For instance, how would you generically describe a group that includes all the CFTOD employees but not the Orange County Tax Assessor? I'm sure Disney is plenty happy to sell the existing plan to Orange County if they want to provide passes as a benefit. But, do they really want a discount program that seems to target that guy? They don't even like that guy.
Asilgrass1
New Member
I apologize if you are the moderator of this forum because I have no complaint with you. This forum is what it is and I generally stay off it because I have no desire to hear this stuff. I understand it’s concerning but I have zero dogs in this race and there is enough negativity on the news coming from all sides. I wasn’t complaining about the forum. I was complaining about the app. WDWMAGIC is an app where I go for cheerful Disney headlines, and I’m not getting that. In the last two days, 6 out of 12 headlines have concerned the CFTOD. I feel that whoever is organizing the app should strongly consider a separate space for these headlines. However, I’ve obviously wandered into a discussion where my voice is not wanted so I will happily exit.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Yea, there was NO conflicts of interest between RCID and WDW
GrumpyFan
Well-Known Member
True, mainly because the benefit was probably provided pre-tax or perhaps even included as a perk that would exclude it from being taxed.
By most statutes, a discount does not equal a gift.
According to the US Dept of Labor:
Gifts
What Is a Gift? - 5 C.F.R. § 2635.203(b) and (c)
A gift is anything that has monetary value that you obtain for less than “market value.” The gift might be tangible or intangible. A gift may include, but is not limited to, a gratuity, favor, discount, cash, gift certificate, gift card, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, or other item having monetary value. It also applies to services, training, transportation, travel, lodging, and meals. See 5 C.F.R. § 2635.203(b).
Exclusions: Some Things Are Not Gifts
Some items are excluded from the definition of gift, and you may accept them pursuant to certain specific regulatory exclusions.
- Modest items of food and non-alcoholic refreshments such as soft drinks, coffee, and donuts, not offered as part of a meal.
- Greeting cards and items of little intrinsic value such as plaques, certificates, or trophies, which are intended primarily for presentation.
- Prizes in contests open to the general public.
- Commercial discounts available to the general public or to all Government employees.
- Commercial loans, pensions, and similar benefits on terms available to the general public.
- Anything for which you pay fair market value.
- Anything that is paid for by the Government.
- Free attendance provided by the sponsor of an event to which you have been assigned to present information on behalf of the agency.
This exception includes favorable rates offered to all Federal employees even when you are off duty. It also includes favorable rates and commercial discounts offered to members of a group or class in which membership is unrelated to Federal employment.
As I mentioned before, MANY companies (theme parks, hotels, phone companies, etc.) already offer such discounts to government, military, first reponders, etc. It's not a violation.
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Ghost93
Well-Known Member
If you don't desire to hear political stuff, why did you look at this thread at all? The subject matter is inherently political.
And while we would all love to escape from the news, the sad reality is that the Disney company IS caught up in a political storm and the situation is having a negative impact on all aspects of the company.
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Asilgrass1
New Member
I didn’t! I came here to complain about the app! I understand I made a mistake. That’s why I apologized.
However, as I’ve stated multiple times, the WDWMAGIC app has had 6 out of 12 headlines in two days pertaining to CFTOB. I don’t understand why this app can’t put these headlines under one banner so people who don’t want to see them don’t have to, but obviously I came to the wrong place to voice my concerns.
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This has been my biggest question since the press release claiming that in 2022 they spent over 2.5 million on tickets and discounts - but then attached a bill dated 12/31/21, which was for FY Q1 2022 tickets with net 30 payment terms. Assuming quarterly billing continued, shouldn't they have know about this well before now? And why would they attach that bill rather than a more recent one?How did it take the board this long to figure out what in their employees compensation package. Sometimes I think they're phoning it in, we know one is
In the 2023 budget there are a two line items that are big enough to absorb these costs. They are "employee relations" at 3.15 million and "outside fees and services" at 19.17 million. Assuming it's paid under EE relations, then nearly the entire budget is placed in admin which may give the new board the right to eliminate this perk of employment.
In watching this mornings press conference there was a statement that the firefighters union negotiated their contact and CFTOD couldn't change that. But no actual confirmation whether firefighters would keep/lose the benefit. And then later a statement that they hadn't decided what to do about retirees.
To mix metaphors, I feel like they've shown a lot of smoke and mirrors but not much fire. Either the firefighters (and possibly retirees) get to keep this perk - in which case the actual impact will be on less than 1/2 the workforce and the savings will be minimal or they don't - in which case they should have said that explicitly rather than boast about how good the union attorneys were.
Asilgrass1
New Member
Thank you so much! This is useful information. I will go there right away and stay off this forum.This is where you should have gone to make your concerns known about the app.
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