Reedy Creek labor talks heat up

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer

September 24, 2008

The special government district that serves Walt Disney World and the union that represents its firefighters are locked in a labor-contract fight that has heated up over the district's assertion that its taxes and budget are being squeezed in part by Disney's slow growth.

Reedy Creek District Administrator C. Ray Maxwell has cautioned the firefighters' union that the district's finances are suffering because of a combination of Disney's slow growth, the overall economy and recent rollback requirements in state property taxes.

In its latest offer to the union, the district offered no new pay raises to the firefighters.

Reedy Creek is the independent government agency created at Disney's request in 1967 to provide services usually provided by a city or county government, such as fire protection, roads and utilities. It now serves the 15,000-acre core of Walt Disney Co.'s giant Central Florida resort.

"We're in some difficult times for every city," Maxwell told the Orlando Sentinel. His July 21 letter addressing that point angered leaders of the Reedy Creek Fire Fighters Association Local 2117, who accused him of distorting the situation.

"It's a smoke screen," Local 2117 President Rick Gorsuch said.

There is no revenue problem, Gorsuch countered, because -- unlike many Florida cities -- Reedy Creek did not roll back taxes as instructed by the Florida Legislature last year. And Reedy Creek's tax base increased 4 percent last year, while its tax receipts rose 3 percent this year. What's more, today the district's board of supervisors is expected to raise its property-tax rates by 0.24 mills. Disney pays 85 percent of Reedy Creek's taxes, and no one objected to the proposal at a Sept. 10 hearing.

The firefighters' most recent contract expired at the end of 2006. Talks have been sporadic since then, and an impasse was declared this spring with more than a dozen key issues still unresolved, including pay. There have been no talks since Maxwell's July 21 letter, though meetings with a federal mediator are set for October.

"All local governments, including the District, are impacted by actions of the legislature and are restricted in their ability to raise ad valorem revenues to fund operations," Maxwell wrote in that missive. "The economic conditions that exist, both across the country and also in Central Florida, has [sic] resulted in a significant decrease in property values which has ended the significant revenue growth rates enjoyed in recent years by local governments. The assessed value growth rates have also slowed within the District."

The district's offer to the firefighters includes no pay-range increases. Instead, the district offered lump-sum, 3 percent bonuses for this year and next.

Gorsuch, the Local 2117 president, called the offer "insulting to my members." The union requested 5 percent pay increases for each of the three years.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.