Riverside approves one-year 'Riverside Rewards' pilot with $50,000 fund to boost small businesses

Riverside's City Council unanimously approved a one-year pilot of Riverside Rewards, a mobile rewards program intended to drive local spending among small, independent businesses and provide city staff with real-time program metrics.

Simone Saunders, project manager in the city's economic development team, told the council the pilot will include a $50,000 rewards fund, up to 500 eligible businesses across all seven wards, a 10% reward on launch day and a 5% reward for the remainder of the pilot, and a closed-loop redemption system that requires points be spent at participating Riverside businesses. "The platform also provides real time dashboards, allowing us to track spending patterns, participation, and overall program outcomes," Saunders said.

The project builds on the long-running shop-Riverside community card and will be powered by Blue Dot's open rewards platform. Staff described eligibility rules aimed at focusing benefits on brick-and-mortar, independently operated businesses (chains and franchises are excluded), and said staff will conduct outreach to businesses included in the pilot if the council approves the program.

Concerns from a caller and council members centered on where the $50,000 fund will be held, audit controls, vendor insolvency risk, how economic-impact multipliers were calculated, and consumer privacy. Caller Jason Hunter asked, "Where exactly will this money be held? What audit controls will be in place? What protects the city and taxpayers if the vendor becomes insolvent or if there's a dispute over redemptions?" He also questioned the source and verification of high multipliers cited in staff slides.

Staff said the agreement places the fund within a custodian arrangement consistent with the city manager's signatory authority and that the city retains ultimate control and reporting obligations; staff also committed to providing details about custody arrangements and audit safeguards. The city's marketing and business-tax staff will include the list of participating businesses in the app and undertake outreach upon council approval.

Council members who supported the pilot said it's a low-friction way to help small businesses compete with online and regional competitors and to capture more local sales tax revenue. "I support creative approaches to economic development," Council member Robillard said. Council member Cervantes noted objective selection criteria and asked staff to return with data and recommendations if further funding is proposed.

The council voted unanimously to authorize the pilot and direct the city manager to execute the agreement and rewards budget not to exceed $50,000. Staff said the program would be launched in time for the holiday shopping season and monitored with KPIs to report back to council.

Next steps: staff will finalize the vendor agreement and provide details about custody and audit controls for the rewards fund, publish the participating-business list in the app, and begin outreach to businesses and residents if the city manager executes the contract.