Florida’s tourism oversight district expects to rack up millions of dollars in legal expenses in the coming months as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ battle with Disney, paying some of its top litigators $795 an hour.
The biggest taxpayer by far footing the district’s legal bill: Disney itself.
“It’s almost an additional way of punishing Disney by using their own money to sue,” said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor who wrote the book “Married to the Mouse” on Disney World’s origins. “It really is kind of odd, atypical. That Disney is paying on both sides of the lawsuit.”
The DeSantis-controlled Central Florida Tourism Oversight District projects it will spend $4.5 million on litigation next budget year on top of nearly $2 million that has already been spent.
To pay its expenses, the district draws upon the tax revenue it collects — just as any other local government would. DeSantis and the district have been fighting Disney in both state and federal court.
Disney and its affiliates pay about 86% of the 25,000-acre district’s property taxes, according to a 2022 financial report. The rest of the taxpayers are mostly hotels and businesses that benefit from the millions of Disney World visitors.
Disney paid about $161.1 million in property taxes in 2023. Coming in at No. 2 was the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World, which paid $5.1 million in taxes.
DeSantis-appointed board members have boasted they are saving taxpayers money, but almost all of that tax revenue comes from Disney.
DeSantis-aligned board members are putting together their first budget since they took over the special district that provides fire protection and other government services to Disney World earlier this year.
Glen Gilzean, the district’s administrator, called the growing legal bill “unavoidable.” Disney sued the district, DeSantis and state officials in federal court, alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
The district has sued Disney in state court, seeking to void 11th-hour agreements that retain the corporation’s control over future planning and development.
“We are incurring legal fees to protect the district’s constitutional rights,” Gilzean said during his budget presentation.
The district has moved to end a purchasing policy that gave preference to minority and women-owned businesses, which it says leads to higher costs. Board members also are looking to get rid of a perks program that provides theme park passes and Disney discounts to the district’s employees and retirees. District officials said those perks cost about $2.5 million a year.
Instead, the district is considering providing a pay bump of about $1,000 that employees could use for theme park passes or other needs.
Other perks included private golf outings and Orlando City VIP soccer tickets for executives, Gilzean said.
Board members say they are making positive changes to the district, which was controlled by Disney for decades. Their budget proposal includes dollars to fix road guardrails that are not up to state standards, as well as improve the district’s 911 network.
The district agreed to a union contract with firefighters that boosts starting pay from $55,000 to $66,000 a year. That ended about five years of often contentious negotiations between firefighters and the previous Disney-controlled board.
Board members are proposing a lower tax rate in next year’s budget, but the district will collect more revenue because of increased property values.
“This is a lean and mean operation,” said Charbel Barakat, vice chair of the tourism board, at a budget briefing. “It’s getting leaner and meaner, and we are making an excellent effort of being good stewards of the public’s money.”
Democrats are blasting the new board’s financial decisions, which they say are politically motivated and steer money to conservative lawyers.
“Anything they can do to make it harder on Disney is what their goal is,” said state Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando. “It is all political. Every single thing they are doing is political.”
Most recently, board members approved a $110,000 contract with Donald J. Kochan, a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Kochan, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, will conduct an economic and legal study of the district. In a tweet, state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, called that contract: “expensive, unnecessary and more grifting by the right.”
Gilzean, a DeSantis ally, is earning $400,000 a year to lead the district, $45,000 more than his predecessor.
DeSantis’ feud with Disney started last year after the corporation opposed legislation known by critics as the “don’t say gay” bill. That law limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
The district’s legal team includes lawyers from the politically connected Washington, D.C., firm, Cooper & Kirk. That firm has defended some of DeSantis’ other culture war priorities, including the STOP Woke Act that seeks to regulate discussions in universities and public schools on the nation’s racial history.
Cooper & Kirk’s roster of lawyers includes Adam Laxalt, a friend of DeSantis and his roommate during Naval officer training. Earlier this year, Laxalt was named chairman of Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis’ presidential run.
The district also hired Lawson Huck Gonzalez, a firm launched earlier this year by a trio of politically plugged-in Florida lawyers.
Founders include Alan Lawson, a former state Supreme Court justice. Attorney Paul Huck Jr. is the husband of Barbara Lagoa, whom DeSantis named to the state Supreme Court in 2019.
That same year President Donald Trump nominated Lagoa to serve on 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Lagoa was a U.S. Supreme Court finalist after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Attorney Jason Gonzalez’s legal resume includes stints as general counsel for the Republican Party of Florida and the Florida governor from 2008-09.
