…The new legislation, which overrides an earlier proposal to dissolve the district entirely, will keep the region’s key operational procedures intact. One of those procedures concerns the district’s ability to raise taxes and issue bonds to build and maintain infrastructure serving the Walt Disney World Resort.
“In terms of the day-to-day operation of the district, it doesn’t look like much is going to change,” said Aubrey Jewett, associate professor and assistant school director at the University of Central Florida.
The biggest change: DeSantis will now be able to appoint the district’s five board members, subject to state Senate approval. Previously, Disney had de facto control of the board as the district’s largest landowner.
DeSantis has sought greater authority over the district in the wake of his squabble with Disney. The governor’s actions were motivated in part by the media and entertainment giant expressing objections to DeSantis’ bill to restrict teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to students in the state from kindergarten to third grade.
And the district will be renamed: From the Reedy Creek Special Improvement District to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
[I want to snicker but I’m scared I’d blow my sinus passages out, it’d be such a violent one. Go woke, go broke. ~ Beege]
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