Disney has far better lawyers than DeathSantis. I was wondering why Disney was keeping quiet and then I read this article and the other articles. The State of Florida in effect made some guarantees to the bondholder and the Disney special district cannot be dissolved while there is debt outstanding
DeathSanitis is an idiot who passed this law out of spite. Being an idiot, DeathSantis screwed up and put Disney in the driver seat. Florida has over 1400 special districts and you do not dissolve these entities because these entities have debt
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article260783972.html
As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing — unless the district’s bond debt was paid off.
Disney, however, noticed and quietly sent a note to its investors to show that it was confident the Legislature’s attempt to dissolve the special taxing district operating the 39-square mile parcel it owned in two counties violated the “pledge” the state made when it enacted the district in 1967, and therefore was not legal. The result, Disney told its investors, is that it would continue to go about business as usual.......
Disney’s statement says, “In light of the State of Florida’s pledge to the District’s bondholders, Reedy Creek expects to explore its options while continuing its present operations, including levying and collecting its ad valorem taxes and collecting its utility revenues, paying debt service on its ad valorem tax bonds and utility revenue bonds, complying with its bond covenants and operating and maintaining its properties.’’ In essence, the state had a contractual obligation not to interfere with the district until the bond debt is paid off, said Jake Schumer, a municipal attorney in the Maitland law firm of Shepard, Smith, Kohlmyer & Hand, in an article for Bloomberg Tax posted on Tuesday and cited in a Law and Crime article......
Randolph calls the measure the “no lawyer left behind act,” and predicts that there will be many lawsuits, including one from bondholders, alleging the state illegally impaired the contract.
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