Big Price Tag for the DeSantis vs. Disney Battle

The DeSantis vs. Disney battle continues and will now cost the taxpayers a lot of money. Do you think this is worth it?

DeSantis vs. Disney

Over the past year, the feud between Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney has been quite dramatic. If you need to catch up on what is going on, here is some reading material for you. Disney sued DeSantis in federal court with claims that DeSantis is punishing the Walt Disney Company for practicing free speech. You can get up to speed on the federal case HERE.

Most recently, DeSantis claimed that no one has made more money for Disney than himself. Followed by the removal of employee benefits, which the CFTOD claims was simply a “scheme” by Disney to funnel taxpayer money back to its own company.

New Budget Revealed

This morning the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District held a board meeting. During this meeting, the board reviewed what has been spent on the current feud between DeSantis and Disney.

Glen Gilzean, the board administrator, shared that in 2023 their “Disney-induced” expenses is over $2 million so far. This is a rather staggering number, but this is really only just getting started. The CFTOD now proposes a budget of over $5 million for the 2024 financial year just for what is referred to as “Disney-induced expenses.”

The proposed budget includes $70,000 for a financial advisor, $250,000 for governance policies, $4,500,000 for litigation, and $250,000 for the Carlton Fields law firm.

This 4.5 million dollars in litigation fees is quite staggering. Many claim that the Walt Disney Company received special treatment and tax breaks in the past. But Disney CEO called this hypocrisy as there are about 2,000 special districts in the state of Florida. It seems that this is a high price for this district to absorb when there are many other special districts still in operation.

The CFTOD now proposes a budget of over $5 million for the 2024 financial year just for what is referred to as “Disney-induced expenses.”

What do you think of the battle? Do you think the battle is justified or is this now costing the district too much? Share your thoughts with us.