San Benito County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to increase the
local preference for businesses here that are vendors on
”
purchasing
”
and
”
services.
”
San Benito County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to increase the local preference for businesses here that are vendors on “purchasing” and “services.”
Supervisors unanimously agreed to raise the local preference on purchasing and services – such as for cars or furniture – from 5 percent to 10 percent. It means that when the county goes out to bid for those items, a local vendor can offer a price tag that is 10 percent higher than competitors from elsewhere and still get the sale.
It does not include any sort of preference for public projects, which the county does not administer because such rules have been deemed illegal in the courts when challenged in other communities.
The issue came up at this week’s meeting due to the need for a standard revision, and the county staff actually had recommended eliminating the 5 percent preference altogether. Supervisors, however, decided to go in the opposite direction and instead raised the preference.
“I prefer it because any dollar that can be spent in the community actually rotates or multiplies,” said District 5 Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz.
San Benito County’s local preference for those items, though, now eclipses similar provisions for other nearby counties.
Monterey County’s local preference is 5 percent, but it includes purchases from businesses in that county as well as Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, said Margie Riopel, a management analyst for San Benito. Santa Cruz County, meanwhile, does not have a monetary preference unless the bid amounts are equal – in that case, it goes to the local business – but it does have preferences on environmental and other considerations.
In balancing the additional cost to taxpayers and the benefit to local businesses that get the preference, De La Cruz had this to say: “At the end of the day, it pencils out and becomes a greater benefit to the community.”
