Would you like an Olive Garden restaurant within five-or-so minutes from your door? Great soup. Love their lunch special when I’m on the road and in an Olive Garden’s neck of the woods. I guess I’d like to have one nearby.
Would you loan an Olive Garden $900,000 to build one near your neighborhood? That’s a moot question for me. I couldn’t borrow $900,000.
But what if I could? What if told I could borrow the $900,000 at historically low interest rates to loan the money to Olive Garden and that the loan would create a revenue source I didn’t have and it would help the schools, parks and libraries and such?
Well, I might be persuaded if it helped the kids and I could get a bowl of Olive Garden’s soup for lunch every now and then.
But I think it would be prudent to ask what if the projected numbers didn’t pan out. What if Olive Garden failed to make a go of it here in DeKalb?
I’d fire the administrators who recommended the plan if they told me the loan is forgivable — if it didn’t work Olive Garden wouldn’t have to pay me back.
And I could care less if it’s in a TIF.
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6 Comments
“A million dollar loan is no big deal.” wuh?!
For clarification there are not 9500 rental units. That figure is the total number of residential units in Dekalb including single and multifamly owner occupied and rental units. I believe the total rental units is around 4500 not including campus residential. The low median income level for DeKalb combined with the lack of population is a challenge for local dining, retail and cultural arts.
Let’s see. S. Doug Reid…aren’t you a county board member? Is that why its “no big deal” to you? You’re used to spending LOTS of taxpayer money? Do I have the right person? A million dollar loan is “no big deal”?
Darden Corporation/Olive Garden has no fiscal disadvantage and does not need a million dollar taxpayer-funded forgivable government loan. North rte 23 no longer needs TIF money enticements to draw new development, especially $900k to one already very well off retail business. North 23 is demographically the busiest corridor in the county, with lots of retail spending occurring today whether or not TIF dollars are involved. OG is too late to deserve TIF money at that location. Perhaps they should consider building downtown or on south rte 23 if they want TIF money…even then, a $900K FORGIVABLE loan? NOT! Olive Garden or similar can’t afford not to come to the DeKalb/Sycamore area.
It appears if OG gets that loan and builds, they will be “repaying” that million dollars with money otherwise coming to the city anyway, without the loan. Sales tax revenue. From the Daily Chronicle: “Fourth Ward Alderman Brendon Gallagher said he supports the city loaning $900,000 to Darden Restaurants, which would have seven years to generate enough sales tax revenue to pay back the $900,000.”
So why give Darden, a 7.5 BILLION in 2011 sales (yes, billion with a B) international foodservice corporation a taxpayer-funded loan to come to DeKalb? (see Darden/OG financial summary on pg. 6 at: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/DRI/1786246980x0x493251/62EBB54F-E8F6-4EB8-BB11-392DBEF89681/Darden_2011AR.pdf)
Why not spread that $900k TIF money around to multiple businesses in other sectors and in areas of town that still truly meet the “but for” requirement in TIF statutes? (“but for” is a TIF phrase/test which refers to the idea that most businesses would choose not to locate in a “run-down” TIF district “but for” the financial TIF incentive offered by the municipality.) Surely there must be candidates which better meet the test of TIF statutory qualifications and which would provide an equal or better return on investment for the entire community. In particular, I am thinking of various forms and sizes of manufacturing. Why is DeKalb always thinking retail or logistics?
Why lock up $900k with Darden? Why lock up taxpayer dollars for 23 years (and longer) with TIF in the first place? But that’s an even more difficult consideration for another day…In any event, Stephen, almost a million dollars is a lot of money.
How about a halfway-house for carpetbaggers, and call it Shills R Us. For every dollar we invest, we get back at least 4 to 5 times ROI. I’ll let you do the calculation. Just think of the cash flow these people would bring in.
I’d fire the administrators all right. Beyond that, I’d like to see them in jail or somehow sidelined for playing fast and furious with taxpayer money. But I suppose those able to bring charges are in cahoots or can’t throw stones for fear of damaging their own houses. Sad fact is, there are too few in DeKalb that care. Most that do care are without enough power to do anything. The next election will determine if DeKalb can recover, or forever remain a third rate servant to a third rate public university.
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A million dollar loan is no big deal. It is not a grant. Hopefully this restaurant can make a go of it but it is a competitive industry. Fact of the matter is that Dekalb has a low median income so that affects the chances of success for any business. How much expendable income do our residents in our 9500 apartments have?