Florida Residents File Lawsuit To Preserve Disney's Special Tax District Status

The feud between the Walt Disney Co. DIS and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis detoured into litigation as three state residents filed a lawsuit to block the newly-passed law that will dismantle Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney’s special tax district.

What Happened: According to combined media reports, two of the residents live in Osceola County and one is from Orange County — the counties that would inherit Reedy Creek’s responsibilities if the tax district is dissolved in June 2023. Reedy Creek operates as a county government, borrowing money for infrastructure projects and maintaining public safety departments, and the residents’ lawsuit claimed their counties would be forced to burden the Reedy Creek bond debt, which is estimated at between $1 billion and $2 billion.

“Stripping Disney of this special district designation will move these major regulatory burdens unto the county, thereby increasing the Plaintiff’s taxes, and will cause significant injury to plaintiffs,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit also highlighted media reports that DeSantis and the Republican majority in the legislature created the law dismantling Reedy Creek after Disney’s issued a statement pledging to fight for the overturn of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that prohibits schools from teaching about sexual identity and orientation to a student in kindergarten through third grade.

“It is without question that defendant Governor DeSantis intended to punish Disney for a 1st Amendment protected ground of free speech. Defendant’s violation of Disney’s 1st Amendment rights, directly resulted in a violation of plaintiffs’ 14th Amendment rights to due process of law,” the lawsuit said.

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What Happens Next: Neither Disney nor DeSantis publicly responded to the lawsuit, nor did Reedy Creek officials or the elected leaders in Orange and Osceola counties.

The residents filing the lawsuit justified their actions by declaring residents with the two counties were “third-party beneficiaries” because Reedy Creek benefited county residents indirectly and would be impacted if the tax district is eliminated.

“As the district’s activities included assistance to taxpayers in the surrounding areas of Osceola and Orange County, and Florida approved of such assistance, third party beneficiaries also live and inhabit those counties,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the residents by William Sanchez, a Miami lawyer who running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat.

Photo: Haydn Blackey / Flickr Creative Commons