Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signs bill dissolving Reedy Creek Improvement District and his office says Disney will pay more taxes

As expected, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed the bill calling for the elimination of Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Earlier this week, the Florida Senate voted 23-16 to pass a bill to dissolve Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District as Governor Ron DeSantis continues to work to punish Disney for opposing Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill.

Disney now faces the real possibility that the Reedy Creek Improvement District will be dissolved on June 1 2023.

DeSantis said after signing the bill, "You know, you did have the issue with our Parents Rights and Education bill...for whatever reason, Disney got on that bandwagon, they demagogued it, they lied about it," he said.

The bill is likely to receive several legal challenges before any implications are realized for Disney. At this stage, it appears that nobody involved in voting for the elimination of Reedy Creek has any plan to handle the district's massive debt and how current Reedy Creek responsibilities could be handled by Orange and Osceola Counties.

After signing the bill, DeSantis said, "People say, they have services and utilities. We're going to take care of all that, don't worry. We have everything thought out." He did not go on to offer any details or plan of how that would work.

He went on to say, "I don't even know that I knew the name of it prior to this becoming something that was live in the past few months."

Speaking to Fox News, when asked how eliminating Reedy Creek would be carried out in reality, Florida's Speaker of the House commented that "We have a year to figure that that out."

The press secretary for Ron DeSantis said on Twitter, "People will [ask about Disney's] services & utilities. We're gonna take care of that. Don't worry. We have everything thought out. Don't let anyone tell you somehow Disney's going to get a tax cut out of this. They're going to pay more taxes as a result of this."

Representatives of Orange County have suggested that its residents may see massive tax hikes to cover the Reedy Creek debt.

"The moment that it dissolves, that money's gone. And instead, what happens is all the debts and obligations of Reedy Creek get transferred over to Orange County government," said Scott Randolph, Orange County tax collector.

The creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District in 1967 allowed Disney the luxury of establishing its own independent government that handles many aspects of the Walt Disney World property, including emergency services, infrastructure, and construction permitting.

These latest developments follow escalating tensions between DeSantis and Disney CEO Bob Chapek regarding Disney's opposition to Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill.

Disney has suspended all political donations in the state of Florida in response to the bill.