- Joined
- Dec 12, 2002
If you have been following our efforts here in Florida to reduce property taxes you might be interested in the following that appeared to day in the Orlando Sentinel.
One thing that surprised me was the statement that Tishman owned the Swan and Dolphin. I was under the impression that they had a long term ground lease.
Anyway the property tax saga continues.
orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-reedytax0707aug07,0,1563694.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
No tax cut for Disney's district
Reedy Creek, the company-controlled government, will override a state cut in taxes.
Jason Garcia
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 7, 2007
Another Central Florida government is preparing to ignore the Florida Legislature's recent order to slash property taxes -- but, unlike others, it doesn't have to worry about igniting a revolt among tax-weary voters.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, the obscure government created for and controlled by Walt Disney World, has only one voter it must answer to: Disney itself.
With Disney's blessing, Reedy Creek has informed the Orange County Property Appraiser's Office that it intends to override the property-tax rollback that state lawmakers imposed on local governments during a June special session.
Reedy Creek officials say abiding by the rollback would force them to eliminate $1.2 million in spending from about a $52 million operating budget.
That, they say, is simply too much to absorb for a district that covers nearly 25,000 acres and provides ambulance service, building inspections, mosquito control and more for Disney World and related businesses.
"It is very difficult to deal with this type of reduction," said Reedy Creek District Administrator Ray Maxwell. "You've got to reduce staff, reduce service to accomplish that -- and we don't normally like to reduce services."
Reedy Creek isn't the first Central Florida government to signal its plans to override the new property-tax law. That law requires cities, counties and special districts to cut between 3 percent and 9 percent of their property tax collections, but it includes a provision allowing any one to avoid the cuts provided at least two-thirds of its governing board approves.
The city of Leesburg, for instance, voted last month to opt out of an expected 7 percent cut. The city of Sanford decided to skip a 5 percent cut last week.
But ignoring the mandate is a lot less risky for Reedy Creek. Unlike elected officials in typical cities and counties, members of the district's five-seat Board of Supervisors don't face the prospect of angry homeowners voting them out of office during election season.
They're beholden to Disney instead. The company pays nearly $9 out of every $10 in property taxes Reedy Creek collects, and, as the district's largest landowner, controls board elections.
District officials say they checked with Disney about not adopting the cut. And a spokeswoman for Disney, which already stands to save millions of dollars when Orange and Osceola counties cut their own property-tax rates, said the company has no objections.
"We're confident that Reedy Creek will take the appropriate action to maintain a budget that will enable it to continue to fulfill its mission," spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.
Representatives for Reedy Creek's second-largest taxpayer, Tishman Hotel Corp., which owns the Swan and Dolphin hotels and a Hilton at Disney, couldn't be reached for comment.
Reedy Creek managers say they have good reasons for setting a higher tax rate. Tentatively set at $5.91 for every $1,000 of property value -- excluding taxes levied to cover debt payments -- the rate is about 18 cents per $1,000 higher than it should be under the Legislature's rollback.
The district is in the midst of building a $5 million fire station behind the Magic Kingdom to replace one of four existing stations. Officials want to outfit the facility with state-of-the-art 911 equipment rather than moving older gear from the old station -- but doing so would cost at least $1 million.
More ominously, Reedy Creek is about to begin negotiations with its firefighters union.
The last time the two sides sat down to negotiate, they spent two years at an impasse. It took a 16-hour session with a federal mediator before they finally struck a deal.
That contract actually expired last year. But the union missed a deadline to ask to begin talks, allowing Reedy Creek to simply tack another year onto the deal without adding a new raise.
"They like to drag it out," Rick Gorsuch, the president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association, said of district managers.
District officials also note that Reedy Creek, unlike most local governments, lowered its tax rate last year to offset rising land values -- long before the Florida Legislature stepped in.
For their part, the lawmakers who championed this year's tax-cutting package in Tallahassee say they don't mind if Reedy Creek ignores it.
"From their standpoint, it's probably fine," said Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, who sponsored the rollback. "This is one of those, 'Who would have thought about it?' things."
Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5414.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel
One thing that surprised me was the statement that Tishman owned the Swan and Dolphin. I was under the impression that they had a long term ground lease.
Anyway the property tax saga continues.
orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-reedytax0707aug07,0,1563694.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
No tax cut for Disney's district
Reedy Creek, the company-controlled government, will override a state cut in taxes.
Jason Garcia
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 7, 2007
Another Central Florida government is preparing to ignore the Florida Legislature's recent order to slash property taxes -- but, unlike others, it doesn't have to worry about igniting a revolt among tax-weary voters.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, the obscure government created for and controlled by Walt Disney World, has only one voter it must answer to: Disney itself.
With Disney's blessing, Reedy Creek has informed the Orange County Property Appraiser's Office that it intends to override the property-tax rollback that state lawmakers imposed on local governments during a June special session.
Reedy Creek officials say abiding by the rollback would force them to eliminate $1.2 million in spending from about a $52 million operating budget.
That, they say, is simply too much to absorb for a district that covers nearly 25,000 acres and provides ambulance service, building inspections, mosquito control and more for Disney World and related businesses.
"It is very difficult to deal with this type of reduction," said Reedy Creek District Administrator Ray Maxwell. "You've got to reduce staff, reduce service to accomplish that -- and we don't normally like to reduce services."
Reedy Creek isn't the first Central Florida government to signal its plans to override the new property-tax law. That law requires cities, counties and special districts to cut between 3 percent and 9 percent of their property tax collections, but it includes a provision allowing any one to avoid the cuts provided at least two-thirds of its governing board approves.
The city of Leesburg, for instance, voted last month to opt out of an expected 7 percent cut. The city of Sanford decided to skip a 5 percent cut last week.
But ignoring the mandate is a lot less risky for Reedy Creek. Unlike elected officials in typical cities and counties, members of the district's five-seat Board of Supervisors don't face the prospect of angry homeowners voting them out of office during election season.
They're beholden to Disney instead. The company pays nearly $9 out of every $10 in property taxes Reedy Creek collects, and, as the district's largest landowner, controls board elections.
District officials say they checked with Disney about not adopting the cut. And a spokeswoman for Disney, which already stands to save millions of dollars when Orange and Osceola counties cut their own property-tax rates, said the company has no objections.
"We're confident that Reedy Creek will take the appropriate action to maintain a budget that will enable it to continue to fulfill its mission," spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.
Representatives for Reedy Creek's second-largest taxpayer, Tishman Hotel Corp., which owns the Swan and Dolphin hotels and a Hilton at Disney, couldn't be reached for comment.
Reedy Creek managers say they have good reasons for setting a higher tax rate. Tentatively set at $5.91 for every $1,000 of property value -- excluding taxes levied to cover debt payments -- the rate is about 18 cents per $1,000 higher than it should be under the Legislature's rollback.
The district is in the midst of building a $5 million fire station behind the Magic Kingdom to replace one of four existing stations. Officials want to outfit the facility with state-of-the-art 911 equipment rather than moving older gear from the old station -- but doing so would cost at least $1 million.
More ominously, Reedy Creek is about to begin negotiations with its firefighters union.
The last time the two sides sat down to negotiate, they spent two years at an impasse. It took a 16-hour session with a federal mediator before they finally struck a deal.
That contract actually expired last year. But the union missed a deadline to ask to begin talks, allowing Reedy Creek to simply tack another year onto the deal without adding a new raise.
"They like to drag it out," Rick Gorsuch, the president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association, said of district managers.
District officials also note that Reedy Creek, unlike most local governments, lowered its tax rate last year to offset rising land values -- long before the Florida Legislature stepped in.
For their part, the lawmakers who championed this year's tax-cutting package in Tallahassee say they don't mind if Reedy Creek ignores it.
"From their standpoint, it's probably fine," said Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, who sponsored the rollback. "This is one of those, 'Who would have thought about it?' things."
Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5414.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel
) So IF they had accepted this "decrease" they probably would have had to go back to thier older higher rates....
