Wouldn't the local community collect a lot more taxes if the district didn't exist? As I understand it (admittedly not very well), right now Disney is effectively "paying taxes" to itself.

That's actually covered in the article. "Mills" is the term of art for the amount levied in property taxes. Reedy Creek has the ability to tax at 30mills and currently taxes at 13.67 (1/3 of which goes to paying the debt) the counties are limited to only taxing at a rate up to 10 mills (and are currently at about ~7 mills (Osceola) and ~5 (Orange) so there's a 3.67 shortfall they can't make up and another 3-5 which they currently don't.

The added revenue to the counties would be far short of the amount they'd need to provide the current services and service the debt.

Osceola Millage Rates https://www.property-appraiser.org/final-millage-rates/

Orange Millage Rates https://ocpaweb.ocpafl.org/faqcontent/Taxroll_Info#A404411

> currently taxes at 13.67 (1/3 of which goes to paying the debt)

So they'd need about 9 mills (2/3rds of 13.67) to pay expenses without the debt? It's likely that they could make up the shortfall by reducing some services. Any services that the local community didn't want to pay for and the Disney company still wanted, Disney could pay for itself.

I also wonder if the the district is fairly valuing the land. How much would a hotel be willing to pay for an acre near the park, and is that the valuation the district uses?