Earlier this year the Anaheim City Council approved tax rebates for three four-diamond luxury hotel projects being built in the city, one of which is being built at the Disneyland Resort. However, that was before the November elections. Now the program that enabled those rebates in being ended 18 months after it was passed. However, the approved projects will be grandfathered in, including the Disney hotel.
As KPCC notes, this marks a major shifted for the council, which had held a “Disney-friendly” majority for several years. In November, Jose Moreno and Denise Barnes were elected to the council and have sided themselves with Mayor Tom Tait and Councilman James Vanderbilt, who have proven to be more critical of the resort district. The new members have even touted this change of power, calling themselves “the people’s council.”
The vote to revoke the luxury hotel tax rebate was actually a unanimous one, with returning members Kris Murray and Lucille Kring, who originally voted for the program in the first place, siding with the rest of the council to end it. During the meeting, Kring said, “I’m glad I supported the hotel incentive, and now it’s time to say goodbye to the hotel incentive.”