Theme parks take to farming to lower property tax bills

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando's theme parks have roller coaster rides, live action characters and -- if you see their property tax bills -- farms.

To save millions of dollars in property taxes, Walt Disney World has placed grazing cattle on its property, and SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando have gotten into the pine tree-growing business.

But property appraisers in Orange and Osceola counties say the theme parks, and some hotels in Orlando's tourist corridor, are taking advantage of rules meant to help bona fide farmers by giving them cheaper tax rates on farmland. Theme parks and hotels use the rules to pay lower taxes on properties until the land is ready to be developed, officials in both counties said.

If the theme parks and hotels get their way, Orange and Osceola counties will lose more than $4.4 million in annual tax revenue that could have paid for roads and schools, officials said.

"When you take something with that amount of money off the tax roll, somebody else is going to have to pick up the tab," said Bob Day, Osceola County's property appraiser.

Walt Disney World, for instance, has claimed 162 acres on three parcels of property in Osceola County as farmland for years because it says it has cattle grazing there. Disney currently saves about $54,000 a year in property taxes by claiming the parcels as agricultural land.

Workers in the Osceola property appraiser's office grew suspicious more than a year ago when the agricultural parcels became overgrown and fencing went unrepaired. Representatives from the appraiser's office made unannounced visits to the parcels several times and found no cattle.

It was only when workers from the appraiser's office scheduled a formal meeting with a Disney representative last August that they finally found cattle on the land.

The property appraiser's office in neighboring Orange County has fought a similar battle with SeaWorld, Universal and several hotels. An arbitrator ruled in favor of the theme parks and hotels late last year.