Disney: Florida Can’t Scrap Special District Without Paying Debts

Florida lawmakers rewrote promises made in Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District’s bond offerings when dissolving the special tax district, which created hairy contractual issues for the state, reports Bloomberg Tax.

Dissolving the special tax district “limited and altered” its ability to improve and maintain its project and collect charges and taxes, meaning Florida violated its pledge to bondholders, Reedy Creek told investors in a note dated April 21.

The bill doesn’t say what should happen to its debts, but Bloomberg noted that another state law requires that by default, the county assumes a district’s debt along with all of its assets when it is dissolved, meaning upward of $1 billion in bond debt could be unloaded to neighboring Florida counties.. (Excerpt from Newsmax)