The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District voted for tax cuts on property taxes for the district and its businesses. This includes the largest business, Walt Disney World Resort. The board for the district adopted a reduction to the millage rate (tax rate) during its public meeting on Wednesday.
“We heard from constituents loud and clear at public meetings and while out and about in the community,” Glen Gilzean, district administrator, said at Wednesday’s meeting. “They do not want their tax rates to go up. We took their concerns to heart.” The new millage rate is 12.95 mills, or 1/1,000 of a dollar levied on property assessments, for fiscal year 2024, which begins on October 1, 2023. This new rate is down from the 2023 millage rate of 13.9 mills.
The flip side of this is that the area also has higher property values. Because of this, it might not actually reduce local homeowners and businesses taxes by that much. It will, however, keep them from going up too much. For the district, it will mean a reduction of tax revenue of about $200 million.
These reductions will be met by cost cutting in other areas that will be shared in the coming weeks. The board has already announced that it will be cutting $8 million by not paying overtime law enforcement to work keeping Walt Disney World Resort safe. Board chair Martin Garcia didn’t give any other examples but did say that Gilzean put “egg on his face” when he found “wasteful spending” by the previous Reedy Creek Improvement District board. No specifics were shared and at this point this cannot be independently verified.
The updates to policy come as both Governor Ron DeSantis and the board itself are stuck in legal battles with The Walt Disney Company. This feud errupted when Disney came out against a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill last year. This led Governor Ron DeSantis to lead the charge to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This eventually was done and it was replaced with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The board for the new district is hand picked by the Governor of Florida. While a resolution to this feud continues to make its way through the courts, Governor DeSantis continues to attack what he calles “woke Disney,” saying “there’s a new sheriff in town.”
The board, on the other hand, has continued to push its own agenda while not being as aggressively antagonistic to Disney. Disney, on the other hand, is letting the legal system do its thing and has mostly continued to make magic and move forward, rather than get entangled in Governor DeSantis efforts at a culture war with the company. This is something that Disney CEO Bob Iger has said Disney has no interest in.
The board for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is working to build its own direction for the district. “We are determined to run an open, honest, efficient, transparent, and independent government agency” Garcia said during Wednesday’s meeting.
What do you think of the continued changes that the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board is making? Do you think they will all be undone by the courts? Share your thoughts and opinions about the lower taxes and other policy changes the board is making for the former Reedy Creek Improvement District in the comments below!
