Latest CFTOD/Disney Fight Involves Park Security
In a wildly unusual movie last week, the new board members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) attempted to reduce safety measures.
The council selected by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis voted to eliminate certain security workers at Walt Disney World.
When that move didn’t work out as hoped, the leader of this district complained in a letter to the editor at the Orlando Sentinel.
I’m happy to report that Walt Disney World remains secure despite the CFTOD’s efforts. Here’s what just happened and why.
An Odd Vote and the Underlying Politics
As a reminder, the current board composition of the CFTOD claims zero working knowledge or experience with theme parks.
That decision stems from DeSantis’s desire to punish Disney for taking a stance on the so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation.
Florida’s governor persuaded the Republican supermajority to remove control of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District from Disney.
Then, DeSantis provided board seats on the new CFTOD to political allies.
One of the conditions required that participants not be theme park experts.
In fact, you can’t even accept the gig if you’ve worked at a theme park recently.
So, the new oversight body possesses no underlying knowledge of how a fine-tuned machine such as Walt Disney World operates.
Instead, all these people know is the sort of political cronyism that drives Florida’s governmental machine right now.
Enemies get punished while friends gain favors. This isn’t even an opinion on my part but rather a regurgitation of comments from elected officials.
Importantly, one of DeSantis’ few allies in Central Florida is the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters Association.
The new CFTOD board blithely promised this group pay raises and other benefits.
Alas, that money had to come from somewhere, and a detailed examination of the books revealed that the CFTOD couldn’t pay everybody.
So, the promised raises didn’t happen for a time. The new board members needed to find the money somehow. And they settled on an odd choice.
CFTOD’s board members agreed that they would eliminate extra private security forces at Walt Disney World, including businesses that Disney doesn’t own.
This short-sighted move set up a showdown with local leaders, and the outcome proved predictable.
Logic Prevails over Politics
Technically, the CFTOD lacked the power to make this decision on its own.
Board members requested that the impacted city councils of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista cede the choice to them.
If/when the city officials agreed, the CFTOD would have cut more than $8 million from the budget by eliminating Walt Disney World’s freelance security staffing.
The leaders of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista understandably refused to reduce security in their regions.
Wendy Duncan, the Mayor Pro Tem of Bay Lake explained why:
“The off-duty officer program provides for considerable flexibility and increased response times for all property located within our city.”
That’s a professional way of stating that the off-duty officers paid under this program are the people who keep Walt Disney World safe.
We’ve recently called these people a different term, which is “essential workers.”
The CFTOD wanted them gone, but the cities most assuredly did not.
Here’s what really happened. The CFTOD recognized that it lacked the cash flow to make good on a political promise.
So, the promised raises for the firefighters would come at the expense of others in the area. Here’s how that works.
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
The CFTOD board members tried to find the needed money with two approaches.
First, the CFTOD would eliminate the off-duty police officers in Central Florida, many of whom patrol Walt Disney World as a part-time job.
Also, the board members increased taxes on the very businesses that had implored them not to do so.
The CFTOD “reduced” the tax rate from $13.90 to $12.95 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
That sounds great in theory, but anyone with a working knowledge of Central Florida real estate knows that all land has soared in value recently.
For example, a business would have paid $13,900 for a property valued at $1,000,000 under the previous Reedy Creek system.
That same property is likely worth at least 20 percent more than it was before the pandemic.
As such, the business will pay $15,480 under the new CFTOD “reduced” tax rate, which is $1,580 or 11.8 percent more than it had before.
The “savings” only occur for businesses whose properties have increased by less than 7.4 percent in value since the last assessment…and there aren’t many of those.
All the businesses that sided with Disney and against the CFTOD at board meetings now find themselves paying higher taxes under the new system.
As for the off-duty police officers, they will keep their jobs with Disney because town leaders care about the safety of their people.
The only logical conclusion to draw here is that the CFTOD does not share the same concern. It’s either that or a lack of knowledge of recent Orlando history.
An Example of Why Disney Hires Extra Security
Do you remember the horrible Pulse Nightclub tragedy? A gunman opened fire at the nightclub and assassinated 49 people while injuring 53 others.
Anyone who has read Disney CEO Bob Iger’s autobiography knows the other part of that story.
The murderer failed in their first attempted target. This twisted individual intended to shoot innocent people at Disney Springs.
Do you know what stopped the person from achieving that goal?
Disney Springs employs heightened security protocols, including the employment of off-duty police officers.
Yes, those heroic professionals are the same ones the CFTOD just tried to fire.
Mayor Duncan alluded to this fact with these comments:
“The off-duty officer program also provides additional public safety and protection for all those who work and live in the city and all those who come and visit our city.”
The thought of voting to reduce security at America’s most popular paid tourist attraction borders on indefensible. That’s exactly what happened, though.
A Letter to the Editor
Not coincidentally, the CFTOD recognizes that it’s losing public sentiment due to its actions.
The board’s leader, Martin Garcia, took the extraordinary step of writing a letter to the editor to complain that Disney wields too much influence.
Garcia has expressed his frustration that local leaders trust Disney’s decision-making on theme park security matters more than someone with zero theme park experience.
In most instances, respect is earned rather than freely given.
The fact that Disney’s opinion carries such weight in Central Florida is telling in and of itself.
As for the CFTOD’s attempt to reduce tourist safety at Walt Disney World, let’s just all agree that we’re glad that attempt failed.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!