UPDATE: Airport's Hyatt Cries Uncle in $5.9 Mil Tax Tiff

ORLANDO-The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority is cutting a check today to the Orange County Property Appraiser for $5.9 million to pay for eight years of unpaid property taxes at its $70 million, 700-room Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Orlando International Airport.

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.