MOORPARK : Council to Vote on Purchase Policy
Taking their own advice to buy local, the Moorpark City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on a city policy to purchase products from local vendors.
Council members are constantly encouraging city residents to shop at local stores and now, whenever possible, they want the city to do the same.
“Our motivation was that I wanted to provide--within reason--benefits to the local economy,” said Mayor Paul Lawrason.
The policy would include all goods and services purchased by the city, said Dan Reynolds, an administrative service manager.
Local merchants would be given a slight advantage, but the city would still have to conduct competitive bids. Local vendors would receive a credit worth 1% of their bid. That 1% is equal to the amount of sales tax revenue that is returned to the city by the state, said Reynolds.
In addition, vendors from outside the city would have to include the cost of transportation into their bids.
These two provisions in the policy would ensure that the city still pay the lowest price for products, Lawrason said.
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