Disney is again contesting
its tax bill for 11 properties, including the Grand Floridian Resort, according to three new lawsuits filed in Orange County.
Disney is once again contesting its tax bill for 11 properties, including the Grand Floridian Resort, according to three new lawsuits filed in Orange County.
It’s not unusual for Disney to turn to the courts to dispute the value of its properties. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts took similar action last year, filing multiple lawsuits over the 2016 tax year.
At the same time, Disney and Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh are waiting on a judge’s decision for a trial that ended in May over a dispute from the 2015 tax year.
Other theme parks operators, including SeaWorld and Universal, also have filed lawsuits over their taxes in the past.
For tax purposes, Singh’s office assessed the Grand Floridian Resort at $183 million, the Contemporary Resort at $113 million and the Polynesian for $95 million, one lawsuit said.
The lawsuit showed Disney paid about $5 million in taxes for the Grand Floridian.
The Grand Floridian’s “market value increased by 286% from 2014-2015. While the value actually dropped slightly from 2016 to 2017, the current value is still based off of that original 286% increase,” a Disney spokeswoman said in an email.
At Magic Kingdom, the parking lot and the entrance/exit roads were assessed about $8 million, according to another lawsuit that also listed several other properties.
Disney is contesting these assessments as well as the 2017 tax bill for the Yacht and Beach Club Resort, assessed at $206 million by Singh’s office, according to a third lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, “the assessments do not represent the just value ... because they exceed the market value.”
None of the lawsuits, however, specifies how much less Disney contends those assessments should be.
The Yacht and Beach Club’s property’s tax bill for 2015 was disputed in court at trial that ended last month. Judge Thomas Turner has yet to make a decision in the case, court records show. Singh assessed the resorts at $353 million, while Disney is pushing for the value to drop to $180 million, Singh’s office had previously said.
In the new lawsuits, Disney accused Singh of not using professionally accepted appraisal practices, which Singh denied in an interview.
“For someone to say we are using inappropriate methodology is ludicrous,” Singh said in an interview Monday.
Singh called going to court a “last resort” but added, “We will vigorously defend our values because we are confident of our values.”
A Disney spokeswoman countered in a statement:
“The increases in the assessments of our property continue to be unreasonable and unjustified. Due to the county’s ongoing use of unfair methodology that is wholly inappropriate and not based on economic reality, we have no choice but to once again take action to dispute these errors by the property appraiser. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”