In paying up after eight years of court clashes and an estimated $200,000 in legal costs paid for by taxpayers, the authority is avoiding $1.3 million in accrued interest fees. The property appraiser is voiding that charge if the authority's check arrives within the next 30 days.
The resolution of the long-running, front-page dispute is a textbook example of bureaucratic arrogance versus taxpayers' fairness, critics of the quasi-government agency tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.
"They wanted to show the county they knew the law better than anyone else," an Orlando lawyer not associated with the case tells GlobeSt.com.
Three separate courts, however, ruled the authority was wrong and former Property Appraiser Richard Crotty was right in demanding the hotel pay its taxes like any other corporate enterprise.
The Pritzker family of Chicago operates the Hyatt Regency on a contract with the authority which answers to the Orlando city council.
Crotty sued the authority in 1993 after GOAA argued it was exempt from taxes because the hotel serves a public purpose to travelers similar to runways and baggage areas.
Crotty maintained the hotel was a pure profit-making enterprise liable to taxes just as any other commercial venture would be. Ironically, Crotty, who serves as the Orange County Commission chairman, also sits on the GOAA board.
The authority's decision to pay up came as it was preparing to appeal the county's two previous legal victories to the Florida Supreme Court.
If that court had refused to hear the case or ruled against GOAA, the authority would have been forced to pay the additional $1.3 million in interest without a chance to have the amount discounted or waived, lawyers following the case tell GlobeSt.com.
C. David Brown, an Orlando lawyer representing the authority, advised GOAA to pay up and save taxpayers the additional $1.3 million in interest.
Brown also represents 100 airport concessionaires in a pending $450,000 property tax suit with the property appraiser. The retailers argue, as the authority had maintained, they don't have to pay taxes because they are offering a public service to travelers.
That battle should be over quickly, now that the Hyatt Regency squabble is settled, lawyers familiar with the retailers' lawsuit tell GlobeSt.com.
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