Legislators have held two meetings in the past week to discuss repealing the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, according to a tweet posted by Florida House Republican Spencer Roach. You can read the tweet Roach posted below:
For those that don’t know, the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act created a special taxing district that would act with the same authority and responsibility as a county government. The legislation states landowners within the Reedy Creek Improvement District* would be solely responsible for paying the cost of providing typical services including power, water, and more.
*Essentially, Walt Disney World
This means the residents of Orange and Osceola County would not have to pay for building or maintaining the above-mentioned services. As tensions between Disney and the state of Florida continue to rise over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, it would appear that some Florida lawmakers want to take Disney’s special taxing district away, potentially even putting the burden of paying for the above-mentioned services onto taxpayers in Orange and Osceola County.
Whilst there hasn’t been any indication of any progress from talks, this is yet another example of rising tensions between Florida’s biggest employer and a portion of the Florida government at a critical time. At this time, Disney is currently in the process of relocating thousands of jobs from California to Central Florida. Stay tuned for further updates.
You can find out more about Reedy Creek Improvement District itself here.
On this particular subject, all we have to say is this. Read the room Mr Roach! By potentially repealing this act, you’re essentially putting the burden on taxpayers. We’re guessing you don’t want to be re-elected…
Stay tuned to Orlando Theme Park Zone for more Orlando theme park-related news and information.
H/T Blog Mickey
While the state taking over Reedy Creek would incur costs for Orange Co, the properties, which have significant value, would be taxed like any other property. So, rather than becoming a burden, it just might be a financial windfall to Orange.