LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — At Walt Disney World’s first private government meeting since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure to disband it next year, officials said Wednesday that they were still confused about the meaning of the new legislation. , even as some ripple effects were starting to kick in.
The government administrator, called Reedy Creek Improvement District, said the expansion of a solar power project could be delayed due to funding issues related to legislation, and the district’s firefighters’ union has expressed concerns. concerns about what disbanding might mean for members. lifetime benefits.
After the meeting, Donald Greer, a member of Reedy Creek’s board of supervisors since 1975, said the board could not provide clear answers on these questions because “we don’t know where we are going.”
“The district may have an answer as soon as we know what that means, but I don’t know if anyone knows what that means. I don’t think anyone has deciphered it,” Greer said.
The dissolution measure passed quickly in the Republican-controlled state house without public consideration of its impact, and was hastily signed into law by DeSantis. The move came amid a GOP push to punish Disney for its opposition to another new law banning instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation at the start of elementary school, which critics call “Don’t Say Gay”.
For the governor, the feud was the latest front in a culture war he has fought over policies involving race, gender and the coronavirus, battles that DeSantis has exploited to make him one of the strongest Republicans. popular in the country and a likely presidential candidate in 2024.
A day before DeSantis signed the bill, the Reedy Creek Improvement District sent a statement to investors saying it would continue financial operations as usual. The district wrote that its agreement with the state prohibits Florida from limiting or altering the district’s ability to collect taxes or meet its obligations.
Critics of the dissolution bill have warned that taxpayers in neighboring counties could end up shouldering around $1 billion in debt to the district. DeSantis dismissed those concerns and said additional legislation would be drafted to clarify the future of these special districts in the state.
At the Reedy Creek meeting on Wednesday, District Administrator John Classe said a developer had run into difficulty funding a planned expansion of a solar power program, meaning he could be delayed.
Jon Shirey, union chief of Reedy Creek firefighters, who make up about half of the 400 private government employees, asked supervisors to reassure his members that their jobs and benefits would be preserved as they were held in ignorance of what the effect is going to be. Firefighters, especially retirees, fear losing their lifetime guaranteed health insurance, he said.
“We were told to be quiet, not to talk to the media, not to get involved in current events,” Shirey told supervisors. “We were told that the district leaders would tell the story. They will be the ones to get the message across. I ask you: ‘What is this message?’
Supervisors have not responded and in fact spent little time on legislation that poses an existential threat to the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement District. Classe told supervisors his employees would continue to operate with the same “high standards and professionalism they always have as we learn what that means legally.”
Proponents of disbanding Reedy Creek have argued that it removes an unfair advantage the entertainment giant has over other theme parks, including allowing it to issue bonds and set its own zoning standards.
At an event Monday, the governor assured a cheering crowd that Disney bond debt would not be dumped on taxpayers.
“Under no circumstances will Disney be able to fail to pay its debts, we will make sure of that,” DeSantis said.
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has put Reedy Creek on a “negative watch” list, saying private government ratings could stay the same or possibly be downgraded. A downgrade would make borrowing more difficult for Reedy Creek.
Another ratings agency, S&P Global Ratings, said among the questions left unanswered by the new law were whether Reedy Creek would reconstitute itself after disbanding next year, how utility operations and debt would be transferred. to neighboring governments if this were to happen and how neighboring governments would raise taxes to secure Reedy Creek’s debt.
Under the law, Reedy Creek would expire by June 2023. The lack of public responses from Reedy Creek executives about the new law may stem from fear “the governor will find their statements hostile and that will complicate matters”, said Shirey, who added that his optimistic lawmakers will look after the interests of the district’s first responders.
“We’re 14 months old, and a lot can change by then,” Shirey said.
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Izaguirre reported from Tallahassee, Florida
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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP.
Mike Schneider and Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press
