Disneyland offers an olive branch to Anaheim and drop hotel tax incentives
Disneyland appears to be offering an olive branch to the City of Anaheim in the form of having the city drop any hotel tax incentives that the theme park has been seeking.
Earlier this month, Disney put the brakes on a new Disneyland luxury hotel because of a fight with Anaheim officials over a multi-million dollar tax break.
In 2016, the Anaheim City Council approved a $267 million tax break to Disney for a 700-room hotel near the north end of the resort at 1401 Disneyland Way. However, Disney is planning on building the luxury hotel in the Downtown Disney shopping district.
Anaheim city officials said the new location doesn’t meet the criteria for the tax break. Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, has been an opponent of the subsidy for this project.
In an Aug. 21 letter to city officials, first reported in the Orange County Register, Disneyland President Josh D’Amaro wrote: “Good friends will not always agree; however, the current level of animus is unprecedented and counterproductive. In light of this, we’ve come to believe that the Agreement Concerning Entertainment Tax Reimbursement and the Operating Covenant Agreement which Disneyland previously entered into the City no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended and, in fact, have become a flashpoint for controversy,” the letter states. “Consequently, we are asking the City to join us in terminating both agreements.”
In addition to the hotel incentivized deal, Disney also wants to end another development-related pact that blocked any city tax on Disneyland tickets.
What the city will do next is unknown.
