When the Tax Abatements Are Slim, but They Still Bring the Chicken
Turns out you can fry up success without a tax break. 🍗
Slim Chickens came to Athens with no abatements, no incentives, and plenty of flavor. Proving not everyone needs a seat at City Hall’s secret dinner table.
Meanwhile, Leeland Ventures’ shiny new shopping center off Lindsay Lane, prime real estate by anyone’s standards, has been sitting empty for six months while other developments around town fill up overnight.
The Next Case- Buc-ee’s Abatement: A Deal Done Right
Credit where credit’s due. Not every deal that rolls through City Hall is a bad one, and Buc-ee’s proves it. The beaver brought jobs, paid for infrastructure, and is giving back $35,000 every year for the next 20. Even Mayor Marks couldn’t hide his pride at the recent NAACP forum — bragging he checks Buc-ee’s numbers every day.
The Next Case: Served Up Hot
Shop local. Eat local. Maybe even find yourself a local LLC while you are at it — one that is not just a mailing address tied to a PO box and a buddy at the courthouse. Because around here, we have plenty of folks investing sweat, not subsidies. And they deserve more than leftover crumbs from City Hall’s incentive table.
Case by Case: How Athens’ Incentives Became a Pattern of Privilege
An ongoing investigative series by The Limestone Lowdown, connecting the dots between city spending, development incentives, and local power. Transparent, factual, and unapologetically local.
Tax Abatements and Incentives: Who Benefits?
Public discussion about tax abatements and incentives towards large corporations.