When The Walt Disney Company spoke out against Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, DeSantis retaliated against Disney by taking away Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). When asked what his plans were on how he proposed handing the dissolution of the RCID, DeSantis said he would respond to that in the near future. Numerous questions arose including would The Walt Disney Company sue? Would the residents of Osceola County be on the hook for the $ billion debt? Could DeSantis legally do this? And more.

Although The Walt Disney Company has yet to respond on how they will proceed, this week Ben Watkins, director of Florida’s division of bond finance, told Bloomberg that the Florida State legislators are likely to create a successor special district to Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Acknowledging that DeSantis and the Florida Republicans’ snap decision left an “information void” as to how all of this would be handled. Watkins said that the DeSantis Administration has been supportive in finding a compromise. He went on to say that when the Florida legislature is back in session he believes that the RCID will be restored but in a “limited way.”

“I’m confident that Reedy Creek will get addressed in a more meaningful way,” stated Watkins.

This past May, DeSantis said the State of Florida would retain control of the RCID, not the county. He claims that Osceola residents would not be responsible for the debt.

“I’d much rather have the state leading that effort than potentially having local government [in charge]. … I’m worried that they [local officials] would use that as a pretext to raise taxes on people when that’s what they would want to do anyways [sic] and then try to blame Reedy Creek. So we’re not going to give them that opportunity,” he said.

DeSantis still believes that Walt Disney World would be responsible for paying off the $1 billion debt, however, there is no legal requirement for Disney to do so. “The debt will be transferred and assumed by — with the same terms and conditions — the successor entity”, Watkins said.

Experts and local Florida government officials pointed out that if the RCID is terminated on 1 June 2023, Osceola county would be responsible for paying the massive debt and other obligations from RCID to Orange and Osceola residents. That would mean each family of four would receive approximately a $2,400 tax bill. DeSantis claimed that would not happen.

According to Orlando Sentinel reporters, Skyler Swisher and Steven Lemongello, “… DeSantis said he wants to put the state in charge of the district while ensuring that Disney would continue to pay the taxes needed to maintain services for its theme park and resort properties. He suggested his plan could even result in higher pay for Reedy Creek’s firefighters.”

Although DeSantis is up for reelection this November (and is rumored to be interested in a 2024 Presidential run), he will not release any written plan of how the dissolution of the RCID will unfold until after the election.

“The path forward is, Disney will not control its own government in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at an event in Sanford. “Disney will have to follow the same laws that every other company has to follow in the state of Florida. They will pay their share of taxes, and they will be responsible for paying the debts.”

“Lawmakers didn’t conduct an economic study and rushed the bill through in April with only three days of consideration,” states the Orlando Sentinel.

Some have pointed out that it is ironic that DeSantis and other Republicans called for eliminating the RCID, but only decided to keep it and give control to the State of Florida. One Twitter user said that either DeSantis is scrambling for a solution or he always wanted to have the State control it and thereby control Disney.