Ever since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law to dissolve Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, Florida residents and Disney fans alike have wondered what will really happen in June 2023 when that law goes into effect.
Reedy Creek Sign in Disney World
Gov. DeSantis has not given much information about what the dissolution of the special district will look like, generally stating that more details will come soon. Now, we have another update on this controversial topic.
In case you’re not familiar with the Reedy Creek Dissolution drama, let us get you caught up. The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a special governing body that operates only on Disney World’s land. It was created for Disney World in 1968 and has operated since then essentially as a county government. It has its own fire department, has special taxing laws, and contracts law enforcement from the surrounding area.
Reedy Creek Emergency Vehicles©Wesh
Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that will dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District, effective in June 2023. At the time, DeSantis did not give a plan for what would happen once the district was dissolved. Some people have worried that the tax burden (including almost $1 billion in bond debt) would fall on the county residents. This has resulted in civilian lawsuits against the governor (some of which have been dismissed).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ©Deadline
Although many have speculated about what could replace the district once it’s dissolved, there have been no concrete announcements about the solution moving forward.
Not long before this law was created, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law, which has been referred to by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Disney issued a statement following the bill’s passing, saying, “Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” Because this occurred shortly before DeSantis signed the law to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District, some have accused him of acting in retaliation to Disney’s response.
©ABC
Whatever Desantis’ motives, the law to dissolve Disney World’s district will go into effect next year. So when will we hear the plan for what will happen when it’s dissolved? According to Rep. Daniel Perez (R-Miami), we may get an update soon.
Rep. Daniel Perez ©Florida House of Representatives
Perez said, “The one thing that I can tell the audience is that the conversations of Reedy Creek have always been there, and they’re still continuing today. We’ll try to put a bow to that conversation in the near future … As for the timetable on that, it’s still uncertain. But the conversations have continued. There is some progress to be made, but we will definitely, I think, we’ll reach a solution sometime soon” (Orlando Business Journal).
Jon Shirey, President of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association | ©Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
One possible solution to the dissolution of Reedy Creek could be a successor district, which has been mentioned by some Florida lawmakers. A successor district would transfer the governing powers to legislators, and the debt would also be transferred to the new district (and would not remain Disney’s responsibility).
Reedy Creek Trash Cans
However, some experts have stated that the dissolution is not a good idea for Florida. Chad Emerson (author of “Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World”) told the Orlando Business Journal that “There really isn’t a good solution to the problem that the Legislature and state leadership created for everyone. The best solution for the citizens, workers and businesses of Florida is to keep the Reedy Creek Improvement District, and its decades of success intact.”
We’ll continue to watch for more updates about the dissolution of Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, so keep following DFB for all the latest news.
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There’s no update here. Please stop making these headlines about “major updates” when there isn’t one.
Other than having to wait longer for building permits, this is doing Disny a favor. They will save millions on maing tain the roads as well being relieved of large debts. Th e only reason this is being done is because little man DeSantis is retalating becasue Disney hurt his feelings. So like a spoiled child, he had a tantrum.
General DeSantis is a unfit, angry, arrogant and hostile leader for Florida.
Constant threats, massive sums of taxpayer money wasted (Twelve Million this week to move illegals to another state) and his dislike for tourist, Disney and any individual that dares to question him.
A ‘General’ or a wanna-be-King, Florida needs to replace DeSantis.
So, technically, there is no update, correct?
One of the many reasons Charlie Crist needs to win the gubernatorial election so this nonsense is stopped. DeSantis acts like the dictators he hypocritically accuses Biden of acting like.
The Reedy Creek solution did what it was supposed to do and did it in a orderly fashion over the years. The only one who does not like it is Desantis, for some strange reason. While Disney is not necessarily the most efficient contractor in the land when it comes to infrastructure, you can bet that they did it better, faster and for a lesser cost than any government entity out there. Leave well enough alone. It has worked for over 50 years.
Context: Ron DeSantis – the political aspirant who spent $12M of Florida’s COVID recovery money to ship illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard as a publicity stunt.
He and Chapek have this ongoing slap-fight that can only result in bad things for Orange County, FL residents and WDW guests. This is beyond petty in its origin, but potentially nightmarish in its outcome.
I love Walt’s Disney and I really like DFB, but I want to state one addition to your story. It wasn’t that Disney (aka Bob Chapek) didn’t like HB1557 and didn’t think it should be signed. Bob Chapek came out publically and said they woud do what they needed to to have HB1557 repealled and announced a 5 million dollar contribution to groups that oppose the bill. Disney didn’t just dislike what the voters of Florida passed, they said they would work to change what they had passed. Californians shouldn’t mess with Floridians decisions, especially when WDW is the largest money maker in the Disney empire.
People are always complaining about how big corporations aren’t paying their fair share & get too many breaks that aren’t afforded to small businesses. Finally when their special priveleges are ended, everyone says it’s unfair. Disney has benefited from its Reedy Creek exemption for decades. Time to be treated like all other businesses.
I think this is great.
Why the heck should Disney act as its own government?
There are many special improvement districts in Florida created for this same purpose as Reedy Creak. They basically require development to pay for itself instead of imposing higher taxes on those who do not live in these developments. Otherwise all taxpayers in a state, county, or city would be paying for installing and maintaining public facilities that they do not benefit from. These districts are created by special act of the Florida state legislature and operate under a charter. If dissolved, the indebtedness and title to all property owned by a dissolving special district is transferred to the local general-purpose government. I don’t see how this benefits anyone.
Disney should act as its own government since they bought all the land, developed it and take far better care of it and the people working for them than Orange County ever could. Disney is Orange County’s biggest taxpayer, paying way more taxes than they need to in order to keep it looking as nice as it does and running as efficiently as it does. DeSantis is a dictator wanna be who wants to push a narrow agenda where he can marginalize people. Disney didn’t share this narrow-prejudiced agenda so like the hateful monger he is, DeSantis is trying to punish Disney. The truth is, the Republicans and their conservatives want to break Disney without a care in the world about the ‘little people’ in the cross hairs. But honestly, I don’t see it happening. For every one that boycotts a Disney owned company, a thousand more replace them that do support them. If Disney were to up and move from Florida, this state would suffer tremendously. Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens combined cannot bring the twenty billion dollars Disney brings into this state daily.
Looks like the local taxpayers will have to pay for a culture war created by Gov. DeSantis.