Property tax rates in Disney district to come down after vote from DeSantis-appointed board
Jack Birle
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The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board voted to lower the millage rate in the district, which would lower property taxes in the district that encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort.
The unanimous vote at a board meeting on Wednesday on lowering the millage rate from 13.9000 to 12.9500 for fiscal 2024 lowers the amount of taxes property owners in the district will have to pay. The district says the rate cut was possible because of the “elimination of government waste and abuse.”
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“We heard from constituents loud and clear at public meetings and while out and about in the community. They do not want their tax rates to go up. We took their concerns to heart,” Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Administrator Glenton Gilzean said in a statement.
“The district staff has worked diligently the past few months to find ways to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars while ensuring a world-class experience for the millions of people who travel to our district from around the world. We’re proud of the result,” he added.
The vote is the first step in the budgetary process for fiscal 2024, which will entail two public hearings and a vote in September. Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board Chairman Martin Garcia said that the waste they are cutting out of the budget to lower property taxes includes several “naughty things” from the previous board of the district, which was appointed by Disney.
“The district was paying over $8 million a year in overtime for law enforcement services provided exclusively on Disney properties. Disney’s not the only taxpayer in this district, we have other taxpayers, but $8 million was being used for law enforcement service exclusively on Disney properties and that doesn’t make any sense to me and it doesn’t make sense to anybody on our team that has looked at it. So that is one of the savings Mr. Gilzean has found,” Garcia said.
“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,” he added.
The board was appointed in February after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a law that restructured the district encompassing the Walt Disney World Resort into the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Since taking power, the board and Disney have been at odds, as have the entertainment giant and the Florida governor.
Shortly after taking power, the new board discovered an agreement between Disney and the previous board, which handed nearly all power for the district to the entertainment giant. DeSantis and the board then enacted a “one-two punch” to invalidate the agreement, including the board using a legal infirmity to declare the agreement void and the Florida legislature passing a law that targeted the agreement’s validity.
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The same day the board declared the agreement void, Disney filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against state officials. The board later filed a countersuit against Disney in the Circuit Court of the 9th Judicial Circuit in Orange County, Florida.
In the lawsuit in federal court, Disney has until Wednesday to respond to DeSantis and the board’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.