DeSantis-Appointed Reedy Creek Board Reveals Major Updates for the District

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Board replaced Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District earlier this year, and since appointing them, Governor DeSantis has already made several changes in the District. 

Not only that, but the new Board has filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company. We’ve been following the lawsuit and various CFTOD meetings, and now we have another update on what once was Reedy Creek.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors held its most recent meeting on July 26th, and we’re diving into the updates.

Firefighters

With the shifts going on at The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, firefighters have been impacted and now so has their recently approved contract. 200 firefighters and first responders recently approved a new three-year contract that would raise the base annual pay from $55,000 to $65,000 and guarantee up to three dozen new hires. This comes after staffing complaints following the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, shortly after that approval, contract negotiations were reopened.

Jon Shirey, leader of the firefighters’ union, has attended several meetings since the DeSantis-appointed Board took over and has praised the group for visiting firefighters at their stations around Disney World property. Shirey viewed this shift as “an opportunity for a fresh start” after years of disagreements with the previous Board.

Following the reopening of these contract negotiations, Shirey sent a message to the union members saying, “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.”

It seems as though things have changed yet again. The Orlando Sentinel reports the Board approved a union contract with firefighters, ending the 5 years of negotiations. The agreement is valid for 3 years and will increase the starting pay of firefighters and paramedics. It takes effect the first week of August.

The District will still have to reach an agreement with the firefighters on a separate contract dealing with fire captains and battalion chiefs.

Taxes

Up until this meeting, a Board Member indicated that taxes on businesses within the District would be increased due to the expenses the District was incurring related to lawsuits filed both by and against Disney, research done into Disney’s agreements with the old Board, and more. That concerned many residents and business owners of the District, who spoke up in past meetings.

But, a budget proposed in the July 26th meeting may change all that. According to Ashley Carter, instead of increasing taxes, the new budget will actually result in decreasing the property tax rate by almost 7% for district constituents. The tax rate would go from $13.90 per $1,000 of taxable value to $12.95 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Apparently, the new district administrator, Glen Gilzean, found “wasteful” spending by the previous Board on a number of fronts. It was mentioned that Gilzean discovered the District was spending over $8 million per year in overtime for law enforcement services provided exclusively on Disney properties.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that “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.”

And according to Board Chair Martin Garcia, that’s not the only “naughty” thing the prior board did. The Orlando Business Journal quoted Garcia as saying, “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.”

 Disney Lawsuit

After addressing taxes and firefighter contracts, the Board held a private meeting with their lawyers to address the lawsuits involving the District and Disney. While we don’t know exactly what happened behind those closed doors, we do know that Disney recently filed a response to DeSantis’ motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit — read more about that here.

If you want to read more about the Disney vs. DeSantis situation, see our posts below.

• DeSantis Board Claims Disney’s Reedy Creek Lawsuit Is DOOMED
• CHANGE Made to DeSantis-Appointed Reedy Creek Board
• “This Is Plainly a Matter of Retaliation” — Bob Iger Comments on Reedy Creek Drama with Gov. DeSantis
• DeSantis-Appointed Reedy Creek Board Votes to Make MORE Changes in the Disney District

We’ll continue to keep a close on the situation and bring you updates that involve The Walt Disney Company.