Council approves $200,000 to replenish BY El Paso rewards program; city to assume app license

The City Council unanimously approved a Chapter 380 agreement on June 9 to provide up to $200,000 to continue BY El Paso, a city-sponsored rewards program that offers discounts when residents shop with participating local merchants through a smartphone app.

Program performance: Staff and the Better Business Bureau, which has administered the program to date, told the council the initiative had enrolled more than 6,400 users and more than 3,700 participating local businesses and produced an estimated $4.7 million in local economic activity since launch. Program partners said those results reflect increased local spending and foot traffic for small businesses.

Administrative steps: City staff said the council action includes a plan to transfer the BlueDot rewards license (the underlying technology) from the Better Business Bureau to the city and to run a competitive procurement to identify a long-term marketing and platform partner. Better Business Bureau and local marketing partners said they will continue operations while staff executes the procurement.

Public comment: BBB and marketing partners described ongoing collaboration and cited a return-on-investment metric presented to council. A few speakers recommended the city keep the app'9s consumer notifications reasonable and asked staff to publish license-transfer terms and costs so the public can track how the city acquired the platform.

What'9s next: Staff will implement the license transfer and start a competitive procurement for long-term operations and marketing; the council approved the one-time incentive payment to sustain the program while those steps proceed.