As we know, spending money locally helps the local economy, not just in the form of immediate expenditure, but the funds have a statistical tendency to circulate longer within the community. The same principle applies to government spending. Now more and more municipalities are jumping on the "Buy Local" bandwagon by implementing spending policies that give local preference.
Government contracts have a tendency of being quite large and thus can give a small local business a very large hand up. Not only that, but local governments are in the middle of an economic crisis (which I'm sure that you've heard enough of by now...) where it is in a municipality's best interest to help bolster their local economy.
