Gov. DeSantis got it right: Reedy Creek should go

Governor DeSantis is right. It’s high time for the Reedy Creek and its “Independent Special Improvement District” to go away permanently - and with all other independent special districts that fit a similar pattern.

DeSantis has always baffled me, but I think I know his pattern now. Most of the things he set on fire during the legislative session are a cheap come-on to his “base” for a presidential run (side note: this bashfulness about ambition can be almost as annoying as it is hypocritical) – and will not be likely to survive the court battles that will surely follow. But he has an interesting way of getting some things done that actually need doing and making them stick, even if by accident. Reedy Creek’s demise fixes perfectly; obliging both sides of his thing: creating political talk around a “maverick” governor at the same time that it serves a true and perfectly logical purpose.

When Florida was young, and in critical need of growth, a whole series of incentive programs were rolled out to entice business - of any size - to the state. These programs, nationally, are usually in the form of either abatements: usually freedom from taxation for a period of time; or provisions: usually sewer and water; electricity; sometimes roads or road improvements. These kinds of programs have become institutionalized; most states and local governments either use them or have tried to use them to bring new business or building into being, or to attract businesses currently located elsewhere to come in. These things have their own sets of problems; not least of which is expense. They’re a lob of the dice – a bet that the short-term payout will reap long-term benefits in profit, taxes, and jobs.

Reedy Creek was something new. In 1967, the Disney people basically told the state that they wanted complete and total control over a huge chunk of land; to create its own government, independent of either county or city or even (perhaps) state authority. They would build where they liked, do what they liked with what they built, police the place as they liked, and control – wholly – all development, including residential housing and all other land-use. It was a deal massively opposed by progressives (as it continued to be, right up until the day that a Republican decided to do away with it), by agriculture, and by some of the surrounding businesses. If the state had not been desperate for development inland, the deal might not have gone through at all.

DeSantis is arrogant. Only in this case, his condescension is refreshing: he’s operating as though Florida is no longer the lean, anxiety-fraught low-rent operation of the 1960s. He’s right. Business no longer has to be “bought off” to start or move here – or to stay. We have a wonderful, diverse, cosmopolitan, and educated work force, builders are in place, roads and highways, ports and airports, lovely Florida weather, and no income tax.

Maybe the time has come for businesses to compete for Florida, rather than the reverse? “Special” districts, particularly independent ones that are so completely unshackled from any sort of representative government, take on a life of their own.

Untangling the legal mess that surrounds Reedy Creek will take time – a simple single statute is not going to do the job – but it’s likely to be time well-spent. The state will probably have to move to relieve local county governments of the outstanding bond debt. Taxation will likely rise for a time, but there is no particular reason to believe that these increases cannot be offset by levying a reasonable cost tax of some sort on the businesses that directly benefit from the services the county or city provides.

Whatever his petty public reasons for doing this, the Governor got this one right: Disney needs Florida more than Florida needs Disney.

R. Bruce Anderson (randerson2@flsouthern.edu) is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Gov. DeSantis got it right: Reedy Creek should go