THE community is aware that Bathurst Regional Council has introduced numerous economic stimulus measures, predominately fee waivers, to help survive the effects of COVID-19.
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However, they may not realise some of the other things council is spending thousands of dollars on to further assist the community.
The latest mayoral minute, which was presented to the May 20 council meeting, details the newest measures that will take some financial pressure off businesses, sporting and community groups.
Also included in the document are tables outlining other measures that the community may have heard of or participated in, but not necessarily associated with the economic stimulus announcements.
There is $48,100 directed towards tourism projects, $12,048 dedicated to economic development, and $2350 for events-related projects.
Council has spent around $14,000 of this money on revamping two of its websites, the Bathurst Business Hub website and the destination website, www.bathurstregion.com.au, to get more information out to people.
Further to this, council is spending $2600 on adding an online shop to the destination website to facilitate retail sales, gift certificates and Buy Local Gift Cards.
Council has also launched the #TakeAMoment campaign, at a cost of $12,000, to create community awareness through positive messages.
Council is also trying to promote jobs through its Evocities partnership.
It has spent $6000 to allow for an extensive update and promotion of the Evojobs platform to advertise the maximum number of available jobs in Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon to people who have recently become unemployed.
A competition was also created encouraging people to shop at participating local stores, with 10 Buy Local Gift Cards, each valued at $200, available to win over a 10-week period.
The competition commenced on May 1 and has come at a cost of $3500 to council, with further expenditure to come.
"Additional local gift card programs will be developed over the next couple of months for further stimulus into the local economy," the mayoral minute said.
The amount allocated to these and other projects is all contained within spending for the 2019-20 financial year and doesn't account for any new initiatives that may be developed for 2020-21.
More measures are expected to be announced later this month, with a new mayoral minute set to be considered at the June ordinary council meeting.
It should include proposals for the recovery phase of the pandemic.
