Earlier today, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Board of Supervisors met for their second meeting. The Board members, who were appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, indicated that they were unhappy with the previous agreement between Walt Disney World and the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Four law firms were hired, and two of them were specifically hired for “potential legal challenges” to Walt Disney World.
Of course, it’s worth noting that the structure of the Reedy Creek Improvement District remains intact. Lawmakers decided against their original plan of dismantling the special taxing district because it would put $1 billion onto local taxpayers. Instead, Republican lawmakers decided to create a pathway for DeSantis to hand-pick the Board of Supervisors, and they renamed the district to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Structurally, the Reedy Creek Improvement District remains, and the hand-picked Board members are starting to discover exactly what that means.
A February 8th Development Agreement between Disney Parks & Resorts and the Reedy Creek Improvement District sets a plan for the next 30+ years. Essentially, Disney was able to ink a plan with the RCID Board at the time that would neutralize any plans that the new Board would put in place. This has been described by industry watchers as a sort of “insurance policy” against an activist Board, and the new Board members are not happy about it.
Board member Ron Peri lamented, “I cannot tell you the level of my disappointment in Disney, I thought so much better of them. This essentially makes Disney the government. This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure”.
Brian Aungst Jr, another CFTOD Board member said, “the former board and Disney entered into a development agreement and deed restrictions that essentially stripped most of the governing authority of the district and also made certain promises and concessions to Disney for many, many years out into the future…we’re not going to let that stand”.
Of course, prior Reedy Creek Improvement District meetings were public, and documents from the meetings are publicly available on the RCID website. Disney has issued the following statement to BlogMickey.com following the CFTOD meeting:
All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Clowns
Don’t fund the roads then. Hurt Disney is any way that you can. They want to play with fire? Hit them with fire.
lol and get seen as twice as incompetent? Everyone is going to know the road care is firmly on the taxpayers after this (just like the legal battle that you just know is coming). I would think playing with fire would be going after a company that has lots and lots of lawyers in some petty squabble. Guess he’s at the ‘find out’ portion of the game now…
DeSantis is acting like a petty, vindictive child in a man’s world. Hate will not win.
What’s the real problem? Disney’s been around longer than DeSantis been alive. As I asked previously, what is DeSantis issue with Disney. Oh, I know, authorianism/Stalinism ; an anti-democratic government by a strongman or small elite – and “Stalinism” – authoritarianism with a dominant bureaucracy and economic control. Little Russia you have arrived!!
This is epic. Just absolutely epic. The descendent clause means there is a princess protecting Disney right this very minute. EPIC.
Shall we all quote the great Red Forman in regards to the State of Florida & Ron DeSantis?