The Clutha District Council has vowed to give local businesses a chance when it buys goods and services rather than prioritising suppliers preferred by the Government.
The council agreed in 2009 to an All of Government (AOG) contract system under the procurement policy.
The AOG contracts have an established list of approved suppliers for selected goods and services for nationwide local governments to use.
However, local business owner Jared McPhee told the outgoing council last week he believed the AOG contracts meant local businesses missed out on several contracts with the council.
Mr McPhee said the decision to contract suppliers from outside the Clutha district under the AOG procurement policy went against the council's ''live, work and invest'' policy.
In the past, the council aimed to encourage buying goods and services from providers within the Clutha district or Otago area, when possible, except when ''value for money'' could be better achieved.
The outgoing council discussed on Thursday a ''buy local premium'' proposal which would encourage a preference for local businesses, by allowing a premium variation when considering local tenders.
Cr Bruce Graham supported the proposal, saying it showed the council was truly sticking to its ''live, work and invest'' policy.
''I think if we want the ratepayers to invest in us, then we've got to invest in them.''
Cr Gaynor Finch agreed.
''We want to attract people to come here to our community and I think it's important we have this in place.''
Cr John Cochrane was one of five councillors not in favour of the proposal. He said he was concerned the council needed to differentiate between the dollar figure premium and the level of service being offered and the proposal was ''subsidising'' local suppliers.
The council approved the proposal.
In a situation where suppliers were of equal quality, the tendered or quoted price from a local supplier would be allowed to have a maximum variation of 5% if the procurement was under $100,000.
A maximum of $5000 variation would be allowed if the procurement was over $100,000.
A ''local'' was defined as a resident or ratepayer in the Clutha district or an organisation that employed Clutha district residents.
Mr McPhee told the Otago Daily Times after the meeting he supported the decision made by the council, but it now had to ''follow through''. He wanted to see the council stick to its word by prioritising local suppliers.
