Sarah Rumpf joins me as the latest guest on the podcast.
She writes for Mediaite, Law & Crime and others.
Recently, she has done some in-depth work on a battle brewing between Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney.
DeSantis and the legislature passed a bill called the “Parental Rights in Education” bill.
Critics called it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill though as Desantis and others pointed out the word “gay” is not in it.
It forbade all sorts of sex related talk by teachers to students in third grade and younger.
There was some controversy, but the bill passed, and that should have been the end of it.
Then, Disney issued a statement opposing the bill and the drama started.
Quickly, he and legislature passed a law repealing the special taxing district- called Reedy Creek Improvement District.
In a brazen act, he and his allies made no secret that this was done as punishment for Disney’s exercise of its first amendment rights.
The move was done so brazenly in response to Disney’s criticism of the bill that Hotair- the conservative leaning blog- was moved to ask rhetorically, “Isn't the Florida bill stripping Disney of its special tax district a case of simple viewpoint discrimination?”
Sarah wrote last week that DeSantis could have avoided squelching Disney’s first amendment rights by simply passing an amendment introduced by a Democrat.
The bill DeSantis signed last week eliminating the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), the special taxing district operating on the Walt Disney Company’s 25,000-acre parcel in Central Florida, has been sharply criticized as a violation of the First Amendment for retaliating against Disney’s criticism of the Parental Rights in Education bill (deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics), a catastrophic burden on the taxpayers of Orange and Osceola County, and in conflict with existing Florida law. But a different version of the bill that was introduced by Florida State Sen. Gary Farmer (D) would have allowed DeSantis to accomplish his political goals without invoking all these free speech, local government law, and economic issues.
Farmer told Mediaite it was “absolutely insane” to repeal RCID, and for all the wild details I would encourage you to check out my deep-dive analysis into RCID and the consequences of the bill published here at Mediaite last Thursday, but essentially Florida law does not allow local governments to treat taxpayers differently — they must all be taxed at the same millage rate — unless a special taxing district is created with the consent of the landowners within that district.
Sarah told me that by acting on State Senator Farmer’s amendment rather than eliminating the district; the state would have studied how effective the district is.
Primarily, Sarah has investigated the effects of this repeal on Disney, the two counties that surround the district, and Florida itself.
She found that this will lead to a fiscal nightmare; furthermore, she found that this was rushed without the input of the local politicians.
Conservatives claim that Disney gets a tax break, in fact, DeSantis’ press person Christine Pushaw gave me this statement, “Partisan politicians (and their stenographers in the press) are making unsubstantiated statements that do not stand up to critical thinking or basic logic. Let’s think about this for a minute: If it were at all truthful that the repeal of the special district would hand Disney a tax break, and the local taxpayers would be on the hook for this bail-out to benefit Disney… why would Disney oppose the idea of repealing their special district? Indeed, if that was true, why wouldn’t Disney have lobbied to get rid of the special district long ago?”
Not so, Sarah told me. Disney wanted an arrangement where they would pay more in taxes because they wanted to provide better services than the county could.
She told me her own street has a pothole, something you will not find in RCID.
Sarah also told me this was rushed with no plan and Pushaw seemed to acknowledge that when she stated, “The specific plan for Reedy Creek is being finalized and should be ready to share with you in the next few weeks.”
Finally, there is the issue of the bonds which RCID holds. They are due in 2029. The district is scheduled to be dissolved in June 2023.
Who will pay the bonds when the district is dissolved? Sarah said the taxpayers of Orange and Osceola County. She told me that speaking with officials those two counties don’t have the money and will likely have to raise taxes.
Pushaw assured me this won’t happen. She provided this statement from Governor DeSantis, “It is not the understanding or expectation for SB 4-C, abolishing independent special districts, to cause any tax increases for the residents of any area of Florida. In the near future, we will propose additional legislation to authorize additional special districts in a manner that ensures transparency and an even playing field under the law.”
In fact, Sarah told me, a tax increase is exactly what local officials said is likely to happen if this plan holds. The special district is set to be dissolved in June 2023.
More of Governor DeSantis’ statement is below.
We had a special session of the legislature last week and the legislature passed a couple bills that I signed, a few bills. One was on the congressional districts. One was on some of these special districts like you saw with Reedy Creek that was basically run by Walt Disney company. And that was really the first step in what's going to be a process to make sure that -- you know, Disney should not run its own government, right? Disney should not be exempt from the laws that every single person in Florida has to pass. And some people are trying to say somehow that they would get a tax break out of not having their special treatment. Trust me, under no circumstances will Disney not pay its fair share of taxes when this is done.
People have also said that somehow, because they've been able to run up tax free debt with these bonds that somehow the bonds are going to get dumped on, no. Under no circumstances, will Disney be able to not pay its debts. We will make sure of that. Do not worry about that.
Michael Volpe Investigates Podcast The Impromptu: Episode 46 an Interview with Sarah Rumpf