Palm Beach County commissioners decided Tuesday to spend $750,000 on a new disparity study to see if a disproportionate amount of contracts have been awarded to white, male-owned businesses, as opposed to women- and minority-owned businesses.
Because of a 1989 Supreme Court ruling, cities can’t set up special programs to favor minorities until there’s evidence of discrimination.
In a study done that same year, Palm Beach County found it was a passive participant in discrimination against women- and minority-owned businesses, so the county set up a race-conscious contracting program.
That program was phased out in 2001 when another study found the disparity had been rectified.
But recent concerns about how contracts are awarded in Palm Beach have prompted the county to commission another study to see if disparities have crept back.
Mason Tillman Associates, the company hired to conduct the study, says it will have preliminary results in seven to eight months, but will have up to two years to finalize its report.
