Disney provides numbers and facts to refute Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' rationale for his attempted hostile takeover of Reedy Creek Improvement District

Apr 17, 2023 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

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Reedy Creek Improvement District overview

Posted: Monday April 17, 2023 5:50pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is yet to comment on today's press conference by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this morning, but the company has been in contact with local news outlets to provide some numbers that appear to refute the Florida Governor's main talking points used to support his botched takeover of Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke today at Reedy Creek HQ near Disney Springs at Walt Disney World

Speaking at the Reedy Creek Improvement District headquarters near Disney Springs today, DeSantis frequently talked about Disney not paying its fair share of taxes and how that will change under his new district management. Disney points out that in 2022, it paid $1.146 billion in state and local taxes, making the Walt Disney Company the largest single taxpayer in Central Florida.

Referring to the governor's comment that Disney appraises its own property, Disney says, "All property in the district, including all Disney property is assessed annually by the Orange County tax assessor or the Osceola County tax assessor, as applicable."

Walt Disney World Announces Location, Developer for Affordable and Attainable Housing Initiative concept art

DeSantis continued that his new board would consider adding affordable housing on Reedy Creek land. Disney is already heavily invested in an Affordable and Attainable Housing Initiative, announcing last year that it would build more than 1300 affordable housing units on 80 acres of land near Walt Disney World.

Other information Walt Disney World provided today:

- WDW is the largest single-site employer in the U.S.
- WDW paid & collected $1.146B in state and local taxes during 2022
- $30.4M in donations throughout 2022 to support the community
— Alex Farnworth (@AlexFarnworth) April 17, 2023

Sounding more like a political rally and an appeal to his base to support his presidential bid, DeSantis said today he expects to nullify Disney's last-minute deal with Reedy Creek Improvement District, continuing to retaliate against Disney for its public opposition to the so-called "Don't Say Gay Bill."

You can watch the full press conference below.

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vikescaper3 days ago

I could see them doing something similar to what they did to the BVD and Hotel Plaza Blvd intersection years ago. They changed the alignment so Hotel Plaza Blvd flows directly into BVD.

maxairmike3 days ago

As long as they're widening all the way from BVD to Avalon (mainly to match lane alignments since the Sawgrass/Flemings connection is finally being fast tracked) and working with CFX to finally signalize the 429 interchange, anything less than that is like putting a normal size bandaid on a multi-inch gash. I think they also need to look at an alternative to the standard intersection for BVD and Western Way given the volume of traffic there, but that's probably more of a multi-phase project like World Drive, as it would likely involve modifications to the World Drive/BVD interchange alignment and flow, as well as the Coronado intersection in what I envision as a "good" solution.

Brian6 days ago

Widening Western Way? Yes, please! That road is a nightmare between 4-6pm, thanks to the s***storm known as I-4!

DCBaker6 days ago

Here's what was in the BoS packet:

JoeCamel6 days ago

Who's 100M is it?

GoneViral6 days ago

Imagine if anyone in this thread had said six months ago that the CFTOD would propose $100 million to fix WDW roads. They would have been laughed out of here.

Goofyernmost7 days ago

Whereas, I have no degree in legal jargon, can someone please splain what that all means and did it have any fundamental changes to how it has always been run in the past as per ss. 123.4567-8910, G.F. 🤔 :)

DCBaker8 days ago

The agenda and documents for the CFTOD Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, May 22 is now available at the link below. https://www.oversightdistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/May-22-2024-BOS-Packet.pdf Here's what included for RESOLUTION NO. 661 (begins on page 270 in the PDF):

peter1143517 days ago

No. But it’s the start of the process

MR.Dis17 days ago

Does this mean a new agreement has been reached with Disney? I am trying to read between the lines on just what this is saying.

flyakite17 days ago

castlecake2.030 days ago

Yes

Stripes30 days ago

Has Disney/CFTOD continued to replace the purple direction signage with the new blue color scheme since CFTOD took over?

mkt30 days ago

You're right. The new document will be different. It will be "different" in the way that Chris Gaines was "different" from Garth Brooks or how the drummer from Nirvana is "different" from the singer of the Foo Fighters.