Inside The Magic reports:
The Reedy Creek Improvement Act essentially allows Walt Disney World to reside in Florida unregulated, acting as its own “government” in a way. The act involved creating a special taxing district that acts with the same authority as a county government.
This situation, while complex, seemed fairly cut-and-dry until reporters started to do the numbers and figure out what the termination of the Reedy Creek Improvement Act would actually mean for local taxpayers.
Mary Ellen Klas, the Miami Herald Capitol Bureau Chief tweeted some more information regarding the situation between Disney and Gov. DeSantis. As you can see, the termination of this act could transfer a whopping $2 billion worth of debt over to taxpayers, resulting in thousands of dollars in tax bills.
Read the full article.
Sen. @JeffreyBrandes asks: “My concern is this bill essentially wipes away Disneys’ $2 billion of debt…if the legislative intent here is ultimately to attack them, then why would we want to cancel $2 billion of debt?”
— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) April 20, 2022
Sen. @jenn_bradley says that the debt will be transferred to the “general purpose government” which is likely to be the county. Asked if the 1.7 millon residents of Orange and Osceola should be asked if they want to assume the debt, she avoided an answer.
— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) April 20, 2022
.@FarmerForFLSen pressed her: Where in this bill (which applies to Disney and 5 other districts) does it say that these six districts don’t serve a public purpose? @jenn_bradley concedes there is nothing that says they don’t serve a public purpose.
— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) April 20, 2022
“We have grown to understand some of the powers of these special districts and they can be quite sweeping,” @jenn_bradley says.
— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) April 20, 2022
JUST IN: Ron DeSantis’ plan to punish Disney for supporting LGBTQ rights by repealing their special district governing authority would raise taxes on Florida families in the Orlando area by $2,200 each, per @miamiherald.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 20, 2022