Florida - Tuesday April 18: Disney World sources have responded to Governor DeSantis who, during a news conference Monday in Lake Buena Vista, accused the company of a last ditch attempt to preserve control over their special district by defying state law.
An article posted on the Walt Disney World News Today website quotes the responses of "representatives of Walt Disney World" challenging a number of the Governor's assertions.
Property Assessments
Governor: "How much is this property worth. Basically you had a situation where the company could appraise its own property."
Disney: "Disney does not assess our own property. All property in the district, including all Disney property is assessed annually by the Orange County tax assessor or the Osceola County tax assessor, as applicable. The Orange County tax assessor assesses all property in Orange County including Disney, Sea World and Universal. In other words, the same government official that assesses Universal and Sea World also assesses Walt Disney World."
Taxes
Governor: "I mean imagine if you appraise your own property, would you appraise it too high or too low? Of course, you’re going to do it lower in terms of the taxes. o they are going to be able to get that done and get a more honest assessment.”
Disney: "Walt Disney World Resort paid and collected $1.146 billion in state and local taxes in 2022 making Disney the largest single taxpayer in Central Florida."
Safety Inspections
Governor: "“Building inspections safety, all these other things that they were exempt from when everybody else has to follow ... You know this monorail is exempt. They exempted the monorail from any safety standards or inspections.”
Disney: · "In 2001, Walt Disney World along with other industry leaders was instrumental in helping lead efforts with the State of Florida to develop a Memorandum of Understanding requiring quarterly reporting of any serious guest injuries occurring on amusement rides and immediate reporting of those resulting in fatalities. The MOU also provides for biannual site visits, consultations and reviews of the safety programs at Florida's permanent amusement facilities. Disney has been a leader in safety and continues to develop procedures and best practices that are leveraged across the industry. "
Unused Special District Land
Governor: "Now people are like,' What should we do with this land?' People have said maybe create a state park, maybe try and do more amusement parks. Someone even said like 'Maybe you need another state prison.' Who knows."
Disney: “Walt Disney World has played an active role in building a stronger community for more than 50 years, and we will continue to find and support creative solutions that make a meaningful impact."
Workforce Housing
Governor: "What role can they play in ensuring more workforce housing within these properties. There have been a lot of promises over the years about doing affordable housing for the workforce, and yet very little follow through."
Disney: "The Walt Disney World Resort provided nearly 80 acres of land in Orange County to The Michaels Organization to build, own and operate an attainable housing development with 1,300 units, offering affordable options for qualifying applicants within certain income levels. The land is located west of State Road 429, just a few miles away from the Magic Kingdom."