The former Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dismantled in his battle with Disney World -- handled a lot of mundane government tasks.
The district's management made decisions on allowing new construction, but it also handled all the basic services that any government must address and provide. Disney controlled the land Disney World sits on, but it also had to handle things like power, roads, police and firefighters.
Now, with DeSantis dissolving the RCID and replacing it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, a board controlled by his political allies, he has also taken responsibility for those basic services.
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That move appears to have the unintended consequence of pushing away one of the governor's key allies.
Essentially, in his attempt to punish Walt Disney (DIS) because it opposed his so-called Don't Say Gay legislation, DeSantis inadvertently positioned himself where he had to push back against the firefighter-and-EMT union in his newly created district.
Disney did not have a great relationship with that union, which has not had a contract for the past four years. The union endorsed DeSantis and openly supported his takeover of RCID, according to The AP.
"Not long before the new appointees took their places, however, the firefighters worked out an agreement on a new contract with the old board. The union members voted to approve it, but two months later, it still hasn’t been approved or even discussed publicly by the new board," according to the news organization.
And the new board isn't honoring that deal, which would have raised minimum salaries for firefighters by $10,000 while also adding as many as 36 new firefighters and EMTs.
DeSantis Creates a Rift With an Ally
DeSantis has made Disney the proxy for every company he wants to paint as woke -- progressive -- as he positions himself to take on Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president.
Disney, which has supported LGBTQ+ causes and has included gay characters in some of its films and television shows, makes for an easy target, but it's also an odd choice for the governor's ire.
Disney remains the largest single-site employer in Florida and it drives billions of dollars in tourism to the state. It also plans to invest $17 billion at Disney World over the next decade, and while it certainly can't leave the state, it can choose to spend some of that money at its other theme parks around the world.
The firefighters union has supported DeSantis, and members stood next to the governor during his news conference announcing the takeover of RCID. Now, the new DeSantis-controlled board has not signed the deal and wants to go back to the negotiating table
“We just shot ourselves in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars that this agreement would have put into the pockets of our members,” Union President Jon Shirey said in a memo to members.
The issue isn't that DeSantis's board backed out of the deal; it's that the details of the cozy arrangement became public. That in turn has pressured the new district administrator, Glen Gilzean, to back out of the deal, which some see as a reward for the union supporting DeSantis.
“This contract got into the hands of city and county leaders across the state of Florida,” Shirey wrote. “Glen had been receiving calls left and right yelling at him that he couldn’t sign this agreement, and how it was going to screw all of the taxpayers in those areas bc they would have to raise taxes just to be able to recruit and stay even somewhat competitive with the new market.”
Different Views of the Contract Proposal
Had Disney still been in charge, the pay raises could have been passed off as a rich company overpaying for workers. It would have been an outlier that likely would not have given other firefighters and EMTs leverage.
With a DeSantis-controlled board, the governor is not only not giving agreed-upon raises to a major political ally. He's also seen as blocking that precedent from helping other firefighters and EMTs -- groups that have been firmly in his camp -- make more money.
Call it an unforced error by the governor, but the reality is that governing the former RCID means making hard choices.
The governor could have left those to Disney and made the company the bad guy with workers who don't get what they want. By taking over, DeSantis has made himself the villain to some of his biggest supporters.
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