In an attempt to give Hollister vendors a leg up with city contracts, the council this week supported a 5 percent bidding advantage for those businesses. The preference, however, will not apply to county vendors.
Council members unanimously supported the idea at Monday’s meeting. They have one more final approval on the matter set for Oct. 15, and it would go into effect 30 days later.
Staff officials proposed the preference in light of suggestions from council members encouraging a pro-business attitude with new legislation, Mayor Ray Friend said. The 5 percent bidding preference would affect expenses on a range of goods and services, but would not include construction contracts, said finance official Robert Galvan, who did not have an estimate available regarding dollars spent on such goods and services.
There is no line item or clear dollar figure readily available within the budget, either, because expenses for goods and services are spread across all the various departments, Galvan said.
“That’s what we stayed away from (Monday) night,” he said. “Since we’ve never done it, putting a number on it would not be accurate.”
Galvan said city officials were looking at providing the incentive just for Hollister vendors with city business licenses, not those in unincorporated areas of the county or San Juan Bautista. He called the move a “first step” and offered an example of a potential conflict if county areas were involved – if a vendor from the city offered the same price as one from the county.
Hollister officials actually modeled their resolution after a similar one at the county. San Benito County’s law gives a 10 percent local preference. The county’s ordinance excludes other bordering counties, while Monterey County’s bid preference actually includes both San Benito and Santa Cruz counties as being eligible for the local preferences there.
The intention of the preference is to help spur the flow of city dollars within the community, Galvan said. He said one big-ticket item where the 5 percent preference might play a role is when it comes to contracts for police cars – for which Hollister’s Tiffany Ford previously has been outbid by larger, out-of-town dealerships.
Friend said officials did their research on the potential, positive economic impacts from a local bid preference law – and recovery of the dollars lost by paying higher prices.
“It would come back in the taxes and jobs,” Friend said. “It’s up-front money we have to spend. Down the road, there’s going to be enhancements.”
