The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) held a board of supervisors meeting on August 23rd. During the meeting, members of the district met to express their comments and concerns regarding a long-held Reedy Creek District employee benefit that is set to be taken away under the new board.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
For context, Reedy Creek employees previously received free access to the Disney World parks as an added benefit for working in the district. The collective cost of these passes and peks was worth about $2.5 million, per the Central Florida Torusim Oversign District. In an effort to cut costs and create a 2024 budget for the district, the CFTOD met to discuss its reasoning for eliminating this benefit. Here’s what they had to say.
One of the main arguments hurled by the Board is that some perks Disney gave to previous Reedy Creek District employees are “unethical.” In a press release sent ahead of the board meeting, the CFTOD called these perks a “scheme” that “raises significant questions regarding self-dealing.” In fact, officials in the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District made a referral to the inspector general and asked them to look into certain perks that Disney provided for Reedy Creek District employees. This benefit was extended to Reedy Creek District firefighters and other Walt Disney World first responders.
Reedy Creek Building
While the CFTOD claims that these perks are unethical, Richard Foglesong (a Rollins College professor emeritus) stated that “the arrangement appears to be more like an employee benefit rather than a taxpayer scam, similar to the way professors at a university may get free passes to athletic events or free tuition for a family member.”(Fortune)
©Spectrum News 13
The CFTOD’s press release further stated, “The former Disney-run RCID used taxpayer funds to provide season passes and amusement experiences to its employees and their family members, cover the cost of discounts on hotels, merchandise, food, and beverages, and give its own board members VIP Main Entrance passes. In 2022 alone, it cost taxpayers over $2.5 million.”
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board
The CFTOD laid out its plans to stop these perks, stating, “Immediately upon discovering the scheme, the CFTOD set in motion plans to eliminate it.” Board Chairperson Martin Garcia stated that the board found three main reasons for eliminating the perk:
- The policy favored one taxpayer
- The policy had the potential to endorse unlawful policy
- The policy was inequitable
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
Garcia further defended the change, stating that employees with larger families received a greater benefit relative to single employees using the Annual Passes — a difference of “three thousand dollars for a family versus one thousand dollars for a single person.” (Note that those costs are hypothetical) Garcia claimed that private companies cannot give gifts to government workers and hinted that the perk was both unethical and unlawful.
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
To compensate employees in light of the change, the board proposed the idea of grossing up wages by $1,425 to be “fair.” Garcia noted that the $1,425 increase may change, explaining, “We are trying to equitably replace the policy we eliminated.” Importantly, Garcia added, “One group we haven’t formulated a policy for is retirees,” given that Reedy Creek employees who worked for the District for over 15 years received lifetime passes to Disney World. Under these changes, Garcia explained, “Some will make out better, some won’t do as well,” but “whatever that contract obligates us to do, I promise you we will do it.”
Reedy Creek Fire Department
In response to this news, several Reedy Creek District firefighters and other employees attended the meeting to voice their concerns with this change. One member of the Reedy Creek Fire Department explained that he and his coworkers take their jobs seriously and have enjoyed the benefit of free park admission for decades. He added that the removal of this benefit takes away, for some entire, a major reason for applying in the District.
©WFTV 9
Another Reedy Creek employee noted that when the District changed hands, employees were told that their jobs and benefits were safe. Employees pointed out that most fire depts are local, but the Reedy Creek Fire Department employs people from all over the state — in part due to the Annual Pass benefit and other perks. In discussing the proposed changes, a retired Reedy Creek firefighter stated, “To think it’s in jeopardy is disturbing,” while a fellow District resident voiced that “Taking away park access is a low blow.”
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
Later in the meeting, the CFTOD cited some expenses that were cut from the 2024 budget. In the District’s press release, the board cited a bill sent to the District for $492,382.96 to cover “Q1 FY22 Tickets.” Other expenses included “Food & Beverage Discount Usage” ($4,969.52), “Water Parks Discount Usage” ($3,764.48), “Merchandise Discount Usage” ($16,837.39), and “employee handouts for hotel usage at the Disney Yacht Club Resort, Disney Caribbean Beach Resort, and Disney Coronado Springs Resort.”
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
Note that the 2024 budget is still in process, and members of the board encouraged taxpayers to voice any questions or concerns ahead of the September budget meeting.
Stay tuned to DFB for more updates on all the latest Disney news.
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As a life long Floridian and a conservative (different from Repulblican) I used to think DeSanits was taking the state in the right direction. But now I see him as a spoiled child acting out and punishing anyone that questions or criticizes him. This is what dictators do, not those that believe in a democracy or a republic. There are other areas of Florida that are self govering, just like WDW was. These are called Community Development Districts and there are approximately 575 in Florida. The Villages are one. No one is going after them. Why — well they aren’t criticizing DeSantis or the gov’t, and they are elderly. WDW was doing a great job at self-govering. The roads were well managed, everything on property was clean, WDW brought a lot of revenue to Central Florida, and the employee benefits were great. I personally receive discounts from my employer — now that this board is saying those are unethical, does that mean all employee discounts can be challenged?
This is no longer just a fight between Disney and DeSantis or the State of Florida. Legal decisions will have a long lasting impact that will effect every company in Florida and every employee. I don’t care if you agree or disagree with what Chapek or WDW did. I don’t care if you hate WDW and never plan to go. I hope you agree with the 1st Amendment and free speech, bc that is what is being challenged.
I understand the potential conflict of interest. A regulatory body can’t receive gifts from an entity it regulates. But rather than messing with their employees and the history of their benefits, the CFTOD can provide this benefit to its employees directly and then charge Disney back via taxes paid for the costs of this benefit.
If giving staff incentives to work for you is “UNETHICAL” I certainly hope they plan on going after every business that does it. This deliberate attack on staff, to try and hurt Disney is more unethical and immoral than anything Disney does. I certainly hope that NONE of them were offered “EXTRA” to encourage them to join the board. Which brings up another point, How much ARE they being paid?
With this stupid move the board have show their hand and it will be very easy for a judge or full court to see their blatant abuse of power. Bring on the court cases.
The RCD was an entity of Disney that was controlled and governed by Disney. So the way I see it, the Firefighters were not employed by Disney, but employed by a department that was operated by Disney. So to me, it was another job perk just like any other company.
As far as taxpayers “footing the bill”, if you think about it, Disney was and still is the biggest taxpayer, so in a sense, they are indirectly paying for the passes. It’s just another tax loophole they used just like any other company would do.
Everyone remember, that the RCID Fire Department backed DeSantis. How’s that working out for you?
That is ridiculous. If Disney is no longer their employer, why would they have to pay ongoing work benefits? Taxpayers were not paying these benefits, Disney, their pat employer was. If this is how the “government” will treat these people they have 2 choices. 1) wait and see what happens or 2) go work somewhere else. It’s sad but that is the present reality and they should all leave in one shot as that will have an impact. Freedom of choice is the most important of our freedoms.
VIP passes for board members? I agree with De Santis. I pay to get into WDW every time. No-one gives me free entry. Enough with the back hander benefits. If you want to enter WDW, pay like the rest of us.
I thought the firefighters under the old RCID district were considered Disney employees paid by the district funded by Disney without any involvement of tax dollars. To mention them as government employees and tax payer dollars spent inappropriately seems way sideways. Politics sure muddies the water!
First comment above. This has nothing to do with DeSantis or the the 1st amendment or other companies benefits unless possibly in the future the company receives state or federal monies and then everything is suppose to be equal to all tax payers and someone brings a lawsuit. Its about using tax money to pay for benefits and the illegal giving gifts or benefits to oneself or something a company regulates. Second comment is exactly right. Lastly, teachers and families getting into sports events free does not happen at major college sporting events anymore if it ever did. I went to a small state college where my Dad was a professor and got tuition breaks, real good ones too, but that all went away cause it was a state school and you can’t give benefits to one and not all anymore(someone spilled the beans). Somehow we still got in free to most sporting events but the seats are all general admission and small time. Reserved seating, there is no general admission, at a SEC, ACC, Big 10 etc football games are not given to faculty and staff. Some employees may have some seating in their contracts such as coaches but it is a contract which may or may not be paid for with state money as boosters pay a lot of the load and how would you know/differentiate? A private school such as Rollins as mentioned in the article does not compare to public and big time sports. I bet if someone challenged the free entrances at some smaller state schools then it would stop but does anyone really care. Like the second comment states, Disney could directly pay for benefits for these employees of the state if they wanted to and that would be that.
This governor needs to go this state was happy now everybody is fighting about rights that he has taken away Disney was a happy place till he started changing things to please his donors
What people have to realize is Garcia himself in his own words acknowledged that these ARE BENIFITS. A private company can basically give any benefits they feel the employees want.
Garcia and this board are just DeSantis puppets. They need to go.
Friends, lots of confusion around this whole topic. Reedy Creek employees never were direct employees of Disney. They were employees of Reedy Creek and for 60+ years, Reedy Creek was manage by Disney appointees, “wink, wink, nod, nod.” Somewhere along the line, Disney began giving perks to Reedy Creek employees in the form of AP’s and other park benefits. When DeSantis began changing things and reestablishing Reedy Creek as an independent oversight board and functioning municipality, now known CFTOD, Disney began charging CFTOD for these previously free “gifts” to the tune of $2.5M year. So the CFTOD said we’ll just cut out these perks for our employees. There is a more elegant way for CFTOD to take care of their employees during this transition, but everything thus far has been above-board. We have words in our society when companies give expensive gifts to its regulators. Its called a kickback or a bribe, or more euphemistically, a conflict of interest, and it is proper that Disney stop giving these CFTOD employees these gifts for free. The earlier comment is exactly correct. DeSantis, Iger, and the !st Amendment have nothing to do with these actions, other than the general transformation of the former Reedy Creek into a proper regulatory and governing entity. I will acknowledge that Disney and Florida benefited from Reedy Creek during WDW’s formative years. That area was not developed at all and Reedy Creek enabled the rapid development of road, and utilities, to enable Walt and Roy O Disney to build WDW. I know. I lived in Winter Park when all of this was going on, including hearing the rumors of Walt shopping for raw land in Central Florida at the very beginning.
At least one board member is being paid $400,000 a year. This is a published fact. Mind boggling. So they will add $1400 to the salaries of the affected workers to compensate for lost perks. Does this make it taxable if it is part of their pay? So what are they really getting? Pretty much nothing. Petty ,greedy, meddling bureaucrats at work.
This is crap!! This is going to cause a mass exodus of employees and rightfully so. If a company doesn’t take care of their employees and provide incentives (especially such a large company) then it has no employees. But think about it. If the Disney incentives go away. So do the employees. If the employees go away then so does Disney along with billions of dollars of tourism and tax money for the state. Also there goes the unemployment rates for the state as well. It’s all going to be a domino effect and all because DeSantis wants to be a baby and throw a fit because someone spoke out against him. He’s ruining the state of Florida and he’s going to ruin the entire country if he gets president.