According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Florida senate has passed the bill to dissolve Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District 23-16.
Governor Ron DeSantis has been targeting Disney and their “special privileges” ever since they took a hard stance against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The self-described purpose of the Reedy Creek Improvement District is “to support and administer certain aspects of the economic development and tourism within District boundaries.” The creation of the district means Walt Disney World and other landowners pay for local essential services like water, electricity, fire protection, and emergency medical services instead of taxpayers.
As we reported earlier today, removing the district could transfer Disney’s $2 billion debt to local taxpayers.
The senate also voted 24-15 to remove the carve-out for Disney in the “Big Tech” bill that was found unconstitutional by a federal judge.
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Oh dear. This is bad. Someone needs to stop this.
Disgusting. This state is going down the toilet. It might be a list cause. Gonna pack up and move my family to Canada and wish Floridians good luck
Removing Reedy Creek would also allow Orange county to tax all of the Reedy Creek residents (ie Disney) for all of the services they would need to start providing, just like they do all other tax payers. So presumably the $169 million budget Reedy Creek currently has (at the very least) would be collected as taxes by Orange county to provide all of those services. While DeSantis’s motivations might not be pure, Disney being able to write their own regulations gives them an unfair advantage to all of the rest of the residents and businesses in the area.
How is this anything other than malicious political retribution for free speech?