The Walt Disney Co.
is going to court to fight the 2015 Orange County valuation of its Yacht and Beach Club resorts.
Walt Disney World is fighting in court this week over property taxes, as it seeks to lower by nearly half the assessed value of two resorts.
The dispute is over the 2015 tax bill for Disney Yacht and Beach Club resorts. Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh valuated the resorts at $353 million, while Disney is pushing for the value to drop to $180 million, according to Singh’s office.
“This trial is about the county utilizing unfair methodology that is wholly inappropriate and not based on economic reality,” a Disney spokeswoman said in a statement. “A prime example is the tax assessment for Yacht & Beach Club Resorts that went up 118 percent in one year, which is why we — and many other property owners in Orange County — are fighting this in court.”
Singh has previously said he vowed to fight such tax disputes in court adding, “We hold their feet to the fire.”
It’s not unusual for theme parks to sue Singh over his assessments, although in recent history, many of those lawsuits, such as those for Universal Orlando or SeaWorld, were settled before the dispute advanced to trial.
The non-jury trial before Judge Thomas Turner in Orange Circuit Court began Monday as Disney disputes Singh’s methodology for calculating the value of the 1,197-room sister hotels that were built in 1990, court records show.
The trial is expected to last seven days as Walt Disney Parks and Resorts seeks a partial tax refund, a figure that was not part of the court documents.
It’s one of several lawsuits Disney has pending over its properties, including lawsuits Disney filed last year for its 2016 tax assessments for Magic Kingdom and other locations.
In March, Universal Orlando Resorts received a $1.54 million tax refund after the company and Singh reached a settlement over the value of the theme parks’ parking garages for the 2015-2017 tax years.
And in October, SeaWorld and Singh also reached an agreement about how much the company should pay in taxes.
Part of the settlement was that SeaWorld’s taxable value cannot exceed $178 million for the 2017 tax year.
“This trial is about the county utilizing unfair methodology that is wholly inappropriate and not based on economic reality,” Disney spokeswoman, in a statement