UPDATE: Florida’s Oversight District will strip perk away from the employees

One pretty big perk will no longer be available for the employees of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

CFTOD

When the state of Florida dismantled the Reedy Creek Improvement District, they replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD for short). Essentially, it is now the governing body for Disney World. Any new construction, laws, or amendments Disney wants to make will now have to go through the CFTOD.

Of course, with Disney no longer its own governing body, some issues have popped up. This is not at all surprising, especially when you consider that the five board members were all appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Disney is now governed by the CFTOD.

Proposed Cut

Just a few weeks ago, the CFTOD proposed a cut that would affect employees of the district. These are still the same employees as when it was governed by the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

This all stemmed from from Disney sent the CFTOD a bill for $492,382.96 for “Q1 FY22 Tickets.” That is not including merchandise, tickets, and hotel discounts. In the past, Disney used tax-payer money to provide RCID employee (NOT Disney Cast Members) benefits like season passes and merchandise/food/hotel discounts.

In 2022 alone, it cost taxpayers over $2.5 million.

The CFTOD proposed that employees would no longer be able to receive benefits like annual passes to the theme parks. Many members of Reedy Creek services spoke out against the removal of their benefits citing that this new change is a “low blow” to the district’s public servants.

Update

In a budget meeting held today, September 13, the CFTOD announced it would move forward with stripping away this employee perk. Administrator Glen Gilzean did mention he has been having conversations with employees in an effort to understand which perks are most important to them.

In addition, he will work with the board to increase the previous lump sum that replaced the theme park entry benefit. That number will be available at the next meeting later this month.

Gilzean said the CFTOD will create a program that allows employees to buy into the new system, so we will keep an eye on that aspect. And finally, no plans have been made regarding retired employees’ benefits like access to the theme parks.

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