The $64 question is how much of the $1B of corporate debt is for infrastructure (roads, sewage, electric grid, etc.) or debt on improvements to private property such as new amusement rides, exhibits, buildings, etc.) The latter is not debt that the counties would incur. My estimate is that the vast majority of the $1B is exclusively Walt Disney and will not be transferred over to the counties.
Lastly the counties can now assess the taxes of 25,000 acres and Disney now has to pay taxes, something that has not done for 55 years.
I agree. The process of finding out how much is infrastructure and how much is not would be a battle with accountants and lawyers aplenty. But eventually it would get resolved.
The Disney Company would be paying taxes on what they developed and would probably try to offload the rest of the land that they were not going to develop in the near future.
Oh, yes. Although what you say is almost certainly true, the statement that the state might be on the hook for over a billion dollars of Disney's debt makes for a much more dramatic headline!
And it is a way for a 'journalist' to say, "You fascist Republicans! Now you have shot yourself in the foot! $1 billion dollars that the poor, downtrodden masses must fork over because their neo-nazi governor didn't like enlightened people criticizing his 'Death to Gays' bill! G*d d**n you all!"