THE VILLAGES, Fla. (FNN) – Florida governor Ron DeSantis provided a much-needed update on the fate the Reedy Creek Improvement District during his press conference in the The Villages Thursday. DeSantis dissolved the special district, previously governed by Disney for all of its properties, in summer of 2022.
Here’s the full clip of the governor’s Reedy Creek update.
He slammed the media’s early coverage of the dissolution, which pushed the idea that the taxpayers would end up on the hook for the debt, and promising back then that was never going to be the case. He clarified Thursday that after more research, he came to the conclusion that the district will be best served by having a state-appointed board. The board will have the ability to negotiate with local governments on certain logistics, but “no corporation should be able to have its own government.” He added, “the corporate kingdom is over.”