Bill would give Philadelphia companies more of a leg up landing city business

A Philadelphia Councilwoman wants to give city businesses a bigger edge when competing for government work. 

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown says even though it could cost the city more, in the initial purchase of goods and services, giving city owned and operated businesses a preference is important.

“Currently we have a law on the books that says a five percent bidding preference can go to local is asking that we change that preference and increase it to 10 percent for local businesses,” said Reynolds Brown.

Councilman Bill Green says even though it costs the city money up front, it can be a net gain for the city’s budget.

“Especially in the city of Philadelphia with unemployment where it is we get wage taxes people have money to spend in their neighborhoods we have all kinds of ancillary tax benefits from that,” said Green.  “If local companies are doing the work and local people are hired by those local companies it’s going to reverberate in the economy and increase the size of the pie.”

The bill, which was just introduced, is not a done deal, it will have to go through at least one hearing in the future.