Disney is suing over their property tax assessment again

[whiteness]

I just read that Disney is suing over their property tax assessment again. If they are successful, that could result in higher tax bills and less services for the other residents of Osceola county.

I also live in Osceola county, and I can confirm that property taxes are high and getting higher all the time. I'd love to sue over this, too, but I don't know how to do it on my own, nor do I have the money to hire a lawyer.

Instead, I'm paying my hard earned money to Disney, so they can also keep raising the price of tickets and meals, while putting stuff that used to be free behind paywalls. Which leaves them with plenty of money to pay their corporate lawyers so they can dispute their tax assessment. Nice.

 

[princesscinderella]

You can sue over your taxes too, we do this for our business properties. It’s not really suing it’s challenging your property value. The lawyers who do this collect a nominal fee ($100) to challenge the taxes (you still have to pay them when due) and if they are successful you get a refund from the county on the taxes you already paid, they collect a percentage of the difference of what they got reduced. They won’t file the challenge if they don’t think they will be successful.
Ex. Taxes are $5,000 and you challenge
The lawyer gets your taxes reduced to $4000
$1000 * 30% lawyer fee = they get $300, you get $700 back. They also credit the fee you already paid out of the $300, if they don’t win you are just out of the initial fee.
Disney just has a much larger bill and it’s smart business to challenge the assessment, especially since its unique property and doesn’t have a lot of comparables.

 

[whiteness]

You can sue over your taxes too, we do this for our business properties. It’s not really suing it’s challenging your property value. The lawyers who do this collect a nominal fee ($100) to challenge the taxes (you still have to pay them when due) and if they are successful you get a refund from the county on the taxes you already paid, they collect a percentage of the difference of what they got reduced. They won’t file the challenge if they don’t think they will be successful.
Ex. Taxes are $5,000 and you challenge
The lawyer gets your taxes reduced to $4000
$1000 * 30% lawyer fee = they get $300, you get $700 back. They also credit the fee you already paid out of the $300, if they don’t win you are just out of the initial fee.
Disney just has a much larger bill and it’s smart business to challenge the assessment, especially since its unique property and doesn’t have a lot of comparables.

Pretty sweet deal for the lawyers.

 

[princesscinderella]

Pretty sweet deal for the lawyers.

It’s a good thing for everyone. My taxes go up very little on our home because of homestead exemption. The county tries to make up for that with higher business property taxes. You can challenge your own taxes yourself, the directions are on the trim statement.

 

[sam_gordon]

Pretty sweet deal for the lawyers.

So become a lawyer?

 

[whiteness]

It’s a good thing for everyone. My taxes go up very little on our home because of homestead exemption. The county tries to make up for that with higher business property taxes. You can challenge your own taxes yourself, the directions are on the trim statement.

I assume the county is counting on most people not challenging their taxes. So, they make up for the ones that do. Which is pretty scary for me, since I do own business property in this county and my taxes are shockingly high.

 

[longboard55]

According to your governor Disney pays no property taxes

 

[tvguy]

According to your governor Disney pays no property taxes

That statement has been called into question.

https://www.wral.com/fact-check-how-does-new-florida-law-affect-disney-s-tax-status/20261882/

 

[amcnj]

I successfully challenged property taxes once. But it was during the easiest time, after the housing bubble popped. The assessed value could be appealed based on actual selling prices of comparable houses. At that time it was easy to find homes that had sold for a lower price than my house was assessed at. And with records being available online, I didn’t need to physically go anywhere to look up anything.

There was a formula involved too. The assessed value had to be off by more than X percent (was it +/- 15%?). So other years when I checked that “wiggle room” made the valuation acceptable, even though it could be off by up to 15%.

 

[mousefan73]

Challenging your assesstment is actually not a big deal, sure it's work, but I know many normal folks without lawyers who have done it. it's actually a smart thing any homeowner should do is look at their assesstment and challenge if needed.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Easy enough to challenge an assessment, although assessing Disney's property values would be complicated. When we bought our second house, we challenged the assessment, based on what we paid for it versus what they were assessing it for. You'd think, on its face, the selling price would be the obvious valuation, but still a guy came out to do a walk-through. He may just have been nosy--we knew him, and the house was locally famous. We had to get used to local strangers asking us things like, "Have you seen any ghosts?" and "Do you still have that ugly gold shag carpeting in the family room?" (No and no, BTW)

 

[whiteness]

According to your governor Disney pays no property taxes

They are in Reedy Creek, so their taxes and governance works a bit differently than other areas. But they do get assessed property tax like any other property owner in Florida, and they do have to pay it. If that wasn't true, there would be no reason for them to dispute their assessment, right?

 

[longboard55]

The issue has been with Disney is there property the costs of the improvements or is it with the copyright. Basically the park without the Disney name would have much smaller value.

 

[MillauFr]

The issue has been with Disney is there property the costs of the improvements or is it with the copyright. Basically the park without the Disney name would have much smaller value.

Actually with Disney big areas of the property have no value. After all they have 999 happy haunts and no one wants to buy a cemetery and develop it.

 

[kdonnel]

When I thought my property tax assessment was incorrect I also fought the assessment.

I don't see the problem.

 

[MillauFr]

When I thought my property tax assessment was incorrect I also fought the assessment.

I don't see the problem.

Agreed. A big company trying to reduce its tax bill? How is that news?

 

[Allison]

I don't understand the problem here.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's not really easy for us to appeal our property values because of how hot the market has been. The amount we pay is also complicated in a sense that the dollar amounts in the form of the mill levy are also determined by what us voters have voted for like school bonds or increases to help pay for public services that we've voted to do. Some people I know have qualified for homestead exemption. My in-laws get a break because they produce hay on their land, another has 30 acres listed as agriculture, etc.

That said there have been high profile cases here related to retailers and they have won against the county. They call it the dark store theory which is all about how these big retailers are assessed on property tax. Bass Pro is one of the more recent cases (settled in spring 2021) where the county lost and Bass Pro won. Other retailers that have won their cases against the county are Target, Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart.

The main issue is how the state's law of fair market value (as of Jan 1st of every year) applies to these large retailers and what that means to the counties as in what formula they use. The retailers want the properties to be valued as if they have no belongings inside it, empty, hence the dark store. There's basically a grey area here. The county has lost their cases mainly because the arguments put forth for their formulas weren't convincing enough. These cases being lost have meant millions lost for the county. More than 130 million was estimated back in 2018 if the county switched to the dark store method but that's outdated with the pandemic and all disrupting things.

 

[bcla]

They are in Reedy Creek, so their taxes and governance works a bit differently than other areas. But they do get assessed property tax like any other property owner in Florida, and they do have to pay it. If that wasn't true, there would be no reason for them to dispute their assessment, right?

They willingly double tax and use far less of the county services that most residents/businesses will use. They basically provide their own services through their own self-taxing entity, and their self-imposed tax is way higher than county tax, which they pay on top of the Reedy Creek taxes.

 

[Lilsia]

It is common where I live to challenge your property assessment. That does not mean that others will pay more if you are successful. I am not sure where you get that idea from.