You Won't Believe How Disney Took Advantage of Its Self-Governing Status to Usurp Many of the Legitimate Roles of State and Local Government.

PJ Media ^ | 04/21/2023 | Chris Queen

[SeekAndFind]

This week, I’ve been writing about Wednesday’s epic meeting of the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD). The board discussed its bold plans for the future of the district as well as the shenanigans Disney masterminded to hold on to its self-governing power after the state dismantled the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID).

The state of Florida established the RCID in 1967 to allow Disney to develop innovations for the property that would become Walt Disney World without having to work around government red tape. As I wrote in my book Neon Crosses:

“Before Walt died, the legal team discovered a somewhat obscure Florida law that allowed for the creation of special improvement districts with a different form of governance than a traditional municipality. Bob Foster convinced Walt that petitioning the state legislature to allow Disney to govern its own property under that law was the way to go. An improvement district would grant the company exemptions from local building codes and would allow Disney to create its own first response and telecommunications services.”

At the time the RCID was necessary, and it was effective. But over time, what the CFTOD board referred to as a “sweetheart deal” became unnecessary. Earlier this year, the state of Florida revoked the RCID’s authority and replaced it with the CFTOD, whose board members serve at the pleasure of the governor.

Now, I’m both a capitalist and a believer in small government, but what you’ll see below in statements from Wednesday’s meeting is how tightly Disney held onto its quasi-governmental authority and how the company usurped many of the legitimate roles of state and local government. Florida had to take down the RCID, and you’re about to see why.

[SeekAndFind]

One of the most egregious examples of Disney’s abuse of its privileges via the RCID is the company’s efforts to avoid paying property taxes.

Disney Parks and its other entities have 90 pending lawsuits contesting property tax assessments from Orange County over a seven-year period.

“In those complaints, they allege the assessments do not represent the just value of the parcels, and they claim that they exceed the fair market value of those properties,” explained one of the attorneys addressing the board. “The taxes for these years have already been paid to all the taxing entities, including to the district.”

If Disney wins these lawsuits, the county must return all or part of the property taxes that the company paid, meaning that “the district has a substantial contingent liability of potentially having to refund billions of dollars to Disney if the Orange County Property Appraiser does not prevail on these lawsuits.” The Orange County School System alone — where many cast members’ kids attend — could lose anywhere between $52 million and $105 million. The CFTOD board voted unanimously to aggressively defend the county in these lawsuits.

[Gunslingr3]

The most interesting thing about this Disney debacle is watching the Left try to defend having a corporation run the jurisdiction and argue why it would be worse for government to take over.

[gr8eman]

You Won't Believe..."

I believe most things commies do! Because they will tell you what they are most of the time! Maybe they won't say anything about paying off the local politicians. I still think they should build a jail for pedophiles next door and actually have a pedo court on Disney property. Just like they hold court at Iggles games!

[Rockingham]

Disney also benefited because the Reedy Creek Improvement District controlled the terms of infrastructure development not just on the Disney property but also in the far larger area around Disney that was part of the RCID. Water, sewer, road connections, impact fees, and so on for non-Disney property could be — and were — set so as to benefit Disney. This led to extensive and usually unsuccessful litigation against the RCID by non-Disney property owners and developers.

[lewislynn]

This juvenile vindictive non-sense has nothing to do with anything except Disney is exposing DeSantis is a spoiled brat. He looks very small here.

Hey Ron. Grow TF up. If you don't like Disney, don't support them.

He wants to imposes taxes and fees on Disney. Is he so brain dead to not know who will really be hurt by increased taxes?...It ain't Disney.

Same with the hare brained idea of building a prison NEXT to Disney. Aren't there other citizens living next to Disney that would have to put up with a prison in their back yard?

Is this his idea of Presidential behavior? NO! It's not even adult behavior.

[discostu]

I wouldn’t say they usurped the roles. It was all part of the deal. Florida, and county and local governments, got out of the way and let Disney do whatever. Disney traded taking over a lot of government responsibility (like emergency services) for no oversight. Everybody involved in the deal knew what it was. Disney was made all powerful and Orlando became a city that mattered.