Disney provides numbers and facts to refute Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' rationale for his attempted hostile takeover of 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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EeyoreFan#241 day ago

Back to just maintaining (insert dramatic pause)……“roads and basic infrastructure.”

lazyboy97o2 days ago

Just because they’re currently rubber stamping doesn’t make it any less corrupt.

MisterPenguin2 days ago

Well, there you go. A denial by the Board. Can we have our perks back? -Firefighters et. al No. -Board.

Dranth2 days ago

WHAT? You mean he wasn't being honest? How can I go on knowing he was full of it?

Chi842 days ago

Good luck with that.

Dranth2 days ago

Personally I am still waiting for Universals special district to have the Governor appoint members instead of them all being Universal employees. Wouldn't want him to be a hypocrite for going against everything he said about RCID right before the new one for Uni was approved. I'm sure he has just been busy and he will call a special session and get it done any day now!

castlecake2.02 days ago

I read it and have also attended several district meetings. The original batch he chose were all trying to prove a point while the newer appointees are more focused on actual gouvernement business

Disstevefan12 days ago

The worst thing I remember was CFTOD took away perks employees had when it was RCID.

MR.Dis2 days ago

Could some one please remind me of any request that Disney has made that the board has denied, as far as I know there has not been one request denied. So no real effect on how WDW has been run since the change. The only pain Disney has had in the past several years if the constant over evaluations by County Assessor office of WDW properties. From what I have read, every single challenge Disney has made has been upheld. Yet the Assessor office continues with their crusade to make Disney pay more. Just to remind everyone Disney is already the single biggest tax payer in the county.

Chi842 days ago

It’s not because there’s no reason for him to pretend to hate Disney now.

wdw71fan2 days ago

I'm guessing you didn't read the entire article. Two brand new Desantis appointees are on the board now. Business as usual.

castlecake2.02 days ago

Good riddance, now hopefully the district can get back to actually doing their job

DCBaker2 days ago

According to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District website, Brian Aungst Jr. and Bridget Ziegler are no longer listed as current members of the Board of Supervisors. Their spots have been filled by Matt Ravenscroft and David Woods, who were recently appointed by Governor DeSantis.

UNCgolf9 days ago

I'm sure a few do, but it's very uncommon. As an attorney, I don't know anyone that works at a non-PI firm that does public advertising like bus, TV, or billboard ads. I think business journals are a bit different and you're probably more likely to see something there if they handle something specific to that field, but I still think that's relatively rare.