Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) was only being financially prudent in deciding to go with a Spanish company over a Dartmouth-based company to provide internet voting options for the 2012 municipal election, the councillor for Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit Valley said. Steve Streatch was reacting to Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) regional council’s decision to award Scytl the contract for telephone and internet voting services for the October 20, 2012 municipal election over a company that had done the same task in the 2008 municipal election.
The European company bid $331,100 less than Intellivote, the Dartmouth company who are concerned about the bidding process, and how they lost out. Scytl bid $553,000 for the contract.
“We all want to support local business,” said Streatch reassuringly, “but at the same time it’s not council’s responsibility to make decisions purely based on local content.” He said HRM was thinking about the taxpayers’ dollars paid when making the choice. “We are charged— and we are responsible— for the tax dollars that are paid here in HRM,” he said. “With a $330,000 difference, it would have been fiscally irresponsible of HRM to take the local firm knowing that it would cost that much more.”
Full Article: The Enfield Weekly Press –.