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City looks to enhance local stimulus
By Kenny Green, kgreen@acnpapers.com
The Rowlett City Council unanimously approved changes to the existing local stimulus plan in an attempt to enhance the program’s success. The improved program is proposed to run from Jan. 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010. This timeframe will provide incentives for shopping and dining in Rowlett after the holiday season, when sales tax dollars are traditionally low.
The council originally discussed a stimulus plan at the March 17 work session and gave direction to city staff to research and recommend a stimulus program for the city. The plan was discussed again at the April 7 meeting, and the city moved forward with establishing a Shop Rowlett campaign.
The Shop Rowlett campaign was designed to be a long-term campaign with future components. In the spring, the city began with a Web site, www.rowlettlife.com, designed around the slogan – Shop Rowlett, Work Rowlett, Play Rowlett.
“When we asked if the program was successful, at least 75 percent said it was somewhat or very beneficial to their business,” said Katie Corder, assistant city manager.
The Web site also includes a job resource page with the goal of assisting citizens that are currently looking for employment. This Web page has links to various resources for local job openings and resume/interviewing tools.
The Web site also highlights the city’s preferred vendor list and current bid openings as well as the city’s special event series and other recreational and educational programs, including an economic stimulus package that directly benefits the community.
A team of employees met to discuss changes to the program. The team’s goal was to enhance the current program to encourage more spending in the community and benefit not only the business community, but also individual families.
“The staff team recommends that we allow residents and nonresidents to participate. The goal is to have spending in Rowlett,” Corder said.
The team reviewed a number of options for the program, including a raffle and the use of “smart technology” cards for a gift card. The concern with a raffle program is the city’s funding would benefit individual Rowlett households, but not necessarily businesses in Rowlett as the individuals could spend the money outside of Rowlett.
The team also researched “smart technology” cards that could be limited by stores or zip codes to only include Rowlett businesses. Upon review the team discovered that Visa/MasterCard does not support this type of program and the city’s purchasing card vendor, JP Morgan, does not support this option for the small quantity of cards and the small dollar amount that the city would be ordering.
Another option through JP Morgan is to have purchasing cards with a dollar limit and a zip code boundary; however, this option would function as a purchasing card that bills the city each month for the transactions spent. The team deemed this option not viable for two reasons: the first is that without a time limit on the purchasing cards, the payments could lead into another fiscal year and secondly, the city cannot control the spending.
After reviewing these various options, the team recommended a similar program that was used in Lancaster, Calif. This program would give the receipt-bearer a $25 gift card for every $250 spent in Rowlett. There will be only one gift card issued per receipt no matter the dollar amount. The gift cards can be used at participating businesses and will be received as cash by the businesses. The businesses will collect the gift cards and then turn them into the city for reimbursement.
“On top of that we will have a raffle for everyone that turned in receipts of $250 or more. The reason for the raffle is that it is an extra incentive to participate and also if the program is overwhelmingly successful and we run out of the $25 gift cards quickly, it will allow the program to continue for six months,” Corder said.
The city will send letters to all Rowlett businesses to give them an opportunity to participate.
Participants that have $250 in receipts will bring them to the Rowlett Library to be stamped by city staff and to receive the $25 gift card as well as a list of businesses that will accept the card. The receipts can be cumulative; all that is required is that the business be located in Rowlett and that the total be at least $250. The gift card must be spent in its entirety in one transaction. The last raffle will be held June 30 and the gift cards will be valid until the end of year.
The city will review the program in April 2010 to see how many gift cards have been redeemed and assess the success of the program.
“If it is not successful this allows us to reinvent the program with another six months left in the fiscal year,” Corder said.
The city plans to keep the job resource Web site updated to continue to assist citizens looking for employment.
“Since we started this program in April the employment rate in Rowlett has increased. We are currently at eight percent,” Corder said.
This part of program does not have a direct cost and is a low use of staff time as updates to the Web site are made by city staff as we are notified of new information on job resources.
The city will continue to manage the coupon program until a new program being developed by the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce is in place. When the chamber program is established, they will take over the coupon element of the program from the city.
According to Corder, the chamber is also looking at offering a discount card that will allow Rowlett businesses to offer discounts to customers.
“I will tell you based on initial observations [the business’ opinions so far] is a resounding fantastic. They love the time frame and everything else about it,” said Councilman Chris Kilgore.
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