DeSantis' feud with Disney has walloped Florida taxpayers with millions in legal fees: report

Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Administrator Glen Gilzean on Wednesday revealed that the state-run agency which oversees The Walt Disney Company's land "expects to more than triple what it spends in legal fees next year following a high-profile battle between the entertainment giant and Governor Ron DeSantis," Politico's Kimberly Leonard reports.

CFTOD "anticipates it'll spend $4.5 million in legal fees in 2024, after already incurring $1.9 million in costs this year," Leonard writes.

"The figures were presented as part of the district's larger budget proposal," which Leonard notes "come as a result of dueling lawsuits between Walt Disney World and the board, whose members were hand-picked by DeSantis. The governor put new leaders in charge after the Walt Disney Co. publicly opposed a bill he signed into law limiting when and how educators can teach LGBTQ topics in public schools."

Leonard recalls that "Disney sued in federal court in April, alleging retaliation against its right to speech, and the board filed a dueling lawsuit in state court."

Gilzean, Leonard continues, "also laid out $16 million in planned cuts as part of his presentation, largely achieved through cutting the millage rate, or tax rate, that'll affect how much people and businesses pay in property taxes in the district. Due to higher property values, the move won't necessarily reduce what area homeowners and businesses pay in property taxes but will keep the payments from going up next year as much as they otherwise would."

Leonard says that "one of the more contentious budget items set to be excised was $2.5 million in Disney World perks for roughly 400 district employees, a tab the district picked up for decades. One firefighter who spoke during the public comment period in the meeting broke down in tears over the change, saying he otherwise couldn’t afford to take his family to the parks."

The CFTOD, Leonard adds, "plans to increase spending in other areas, including allocating $1 million toward a new 9/11 structure that will include a new internet network, and $2.7 million to replace a guardrail in the district. It hired new public affairs officers and added staff in the public records office after getting a surge in documents requests. The total increase in spending, when also factoring the legal fees, will be nearly $12.4 million, though that's offset by the savings in other areas, Gilzean estimated. Total anticipated expenditures for 2024 are $192 million, the presentation showed."