Important changes are being made at the former Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District).

The Board of Supervisors for the District is now made of Governor DeSantis’ appointees, and within just a few months, they have declared some of Disney’s agreements with the old board to be invalid, initiated a lawsuit against Disney in state court, heard some complaints and fears from Disney Springs restaurant operators, and more. And now more changes have been revealed.

On July 26th, 2023, the Board of Supervisors for the District held its latest meeting and some big updates were revealed.

Taxes

For starters, there’s been a significant update when it comes to taxes in the district. Previously, one member of the Board had indicated that they thought taxes on businesses within the District would have to be increased due to all of the expenses the District was incurring related to the lawsuits filed by and against Disney, research done into Disney’s agreements with the old Board, and more.

But now it seems things have changed.

During the meeting, a proposed budget was discussed. But, instead of increasing taxes, it’ll actually result in a DECREASE of the property tax rate by nearly 7% for district constituents (per Ashley Carter). The tax rate would go from $13.90 per $1,000 of taxable value to $12.95 per $1,000 of taxable value.

So what happened here? Martin Garcia, the chair of the Board, noted that he thought they would have to increase taxes to pay for the lawyers and financial advisors they’ve hired to address some of their battles with Disney. But, to his surprise, the new District administrator — Glen Gilzean — was also to find some ways to save money.

Specifically, Garcia said that Gilzean found that there was “wasteful” spending by the previous Board on a number of fronts. Garcia specifically talked about how Gilzean discovered that the District was spending over $8 million per year in overtime for law enforcement services provided exclusively on Disney properties.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, “In 2022, the Disney-controlled cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, which include Disney World, paid about $8.2 million for off-duty deputy services, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Disney’s security services paid $630,000 that year, sheriff’s records show.”

The Orlando Business Journal spoke with Michelle Guido, a spokesperson with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Guido said that the officers were not working “overtime,” but some were working “off duty.”

According to the Orlando Business Journal, Guido indicated that off-duty services “would be part of a different paying mechanism through the Sheriff’s Office and be in addition to regular patrolling law enforcement contracted with the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. For example, if Disney hosts an event on property and needs extra law enforcement to handle increased traffic, that may include hiring off-duty officers, and will not result in a drop in the contracted law enforcement protection in the area.”

Garcia argued that Disney is not the only taxpayer in this district, yet the services were for Disney’s properties exclusively. It appears that spending will no longer be allowed and that will be part of the “savings” found by Gilzean.

Garcia noted that they are doing more work and claimed that there are a number of other “naughty” things the old Board did with District funds. The Orlando Business Journal quotes Garcia as having said, “As we are doing more work, it appears that there are a number of other naughty things that this old board did with district funds, so we are going to look for further savings.”

The budget process isn’t over yet. There will be two public hearings on the matter and a final vote, but that won’t happen until September 27th, so there’s still quite a bit of time pending here.

Firefighters

Another big change that has been announced for the District has to do with its firefighters. The District’s contract with the firefighter’s union has been a big topic of discussion. While an initial contract had been approved at first, negotiations were then reopened, much to the dismay of Jon Shirey — the leader of the firefighters’ union.

Shirey slammed his fellow union members for sharing the proposed contract, arguing that it pressured the new District administrator not to sign since other public officials were complaining about the deal. Shirey wrote, “We just shot ourselves in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars that this agreement would have put into the pockets of our members.”

But now things have changed. As the Orlando Sentinel reports, the Board of the District APPROVED a union contract with firefighters, ending the 5 years of negotiations on the manner. The agreement is for 3 years and will increase the starting pay of firefighters and paramedics. It will take effect by the first week of August.

But there’s still more work to do. The District still needs to come to an agreement with the firefighters on a separate contract that’ll address captains and battalion chiefs. We’ll keep an eye out for updates there.

More

In terms of other updates, the Board also addressed a fund-balance policy that’ll handle long-term goals for funding, along with a conflicts of interest policy.

They then recessed and had a private meeting with their litigation counsel to address the ongoing lawsuits involving the District and Disney.

Disney actually filed a response in one of the Reedy Creek lawsuits also on the 26th, so we’ll continue to keep an eye out for updates and how both the federal and state lawsuits progress.

The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for August 23rd, so we could get more updates on future changes at that point. Stay tuned for all the latest.

Click here to learn about Disney’s response to one Reedy Creek lawsuit and how they have demanded a trial date BEFORE the election