An Olive Garden may be heading to Athens soon, with the help of its local government.
Athens City Council recently voted to subsidize the opening of the popular Italian restaurant chain, something Mayor Ronnie Marks said will increase city revenue and create about 80 jobs. Opponents argue the city dollars should be allocated directly to local services and businesses.
Athens allocated $600,000 over the next six years towards the $6.5 million restaurant project. Marks said the project will raise an estimated $4.5 million in sales tax dollars with the city covering its payments through those tax revenue. It will not accrue debt for the payments.
Athens Olive Garden is set to be built in Athens at Exit 351, the Interstate 65 and U.S. Highway 72 connection.
The agreement is contingent on the Athens Olive Garden successfully opening and hitting certain targeted dates.
The funding can go towards essential services like paying city workers, paving roads and expanding city services.
“We’ve got over 450 employees for the city of Athens,” Marks said. “We have all the utility department, the electric department, as well as the general fund. On the general fund side, that picks up your garbage, that builds fire stations, that buys fire trucks, that buys garbage trucks.”
Forty-two percent of the city’s $50 million general fund is funded by sales tax.
Resident questions spending
Adam Keller is the political chair and a trustee of the North Alabama Labor Council and a long-time resident of Athens.
He said those city tax dollars should go directly to city services or local businesses.
“We all want restaurants, but we all want child care. We all want affordable housing. We all want public transportation,” Keller said. “We all want infrastructure that can meet the growing community here. So there are a lot of things you could do to invest in this economy and grow from the bottom up.”
He also believes it will pull business away from local restaurants.
“I feel disappointed because I think there are so many other opportunities to use public dollars to support the public good, and frankly, it seems absurd that we are supporting an out-of-state corporate chain to compete with our locally owned businesses with minimal strings attached, quality of the jobs provided, or the benefits that will be provided to this community,” he said.
Keller said many of the chain restaurant positions are low-paying jobs. Olive Garden servers and line cooks earn approximately $15 per hour. Some have benefits like health insurance and paid sick leave, depending on how many hours they work and how long they have been working at Olive Garden.
“I’m talking about jobs that actually pay a living wage, jobs that can sustain a family where you can actually afford to live in the city you’re working in,” Keller said. “Jobs that provide health care and retirement benefits. These are not the kind of jobs that chain restaurants typically provide, certainly not for the majority of their workforce. And so when you brag about creating jobs, my question is, what kind of jobs are we creating?”
Olive Garden often requested, mayor says
Marks said his constituents have been asking city government to bring an Olive Garden to the area for some time. He said he’d be leaving funding for essential services on the table if he didn’t take this opportunity.
“Why would I want somebody from Athens go over to Madison, Decatur or Florence, or anywhere else and spend their money because I don’t have an opportunity for them to either shop or go to a restaurant or something here,” Marks said. “So I think our challenge is real clear. City council understands it. We want people to be here in Athens and shop and spend their money in Athens, because 3 cents of every sales tax dollar goes to your schools, and general fund. You have a 9-cent sales tax in the city of Athens and 6 cents of it goes to the state.”
He said similar projects like the large gas station chain, Buc-ee’s, have been a huge success for the City of Athens. It opened in 2022 and it one of the top three retail projects that help fund the city.
There is no set opening date for the Olive Garden. Building plans are under review.
Comments are closed.