Invest North Bay has a million reasons to smile.

The chair of Invest North Bay George Burton appeared before city council last night and asked for $1,000,000 and at the end of the meeting the request was granted.

He says the money which is coming from a reserve fund will be used for marketing, incentives to attract jobs here and even to get an equity stake in a firm.

Burton says they could take a $50,000 equity position in a company for example or grant a company the same amount as an incentive to move to North Bay.

Burton says the risk would be the same but with an equity position Invest North Bay could get some return on its investment.

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says the money is going to help Invest North Bay do its work and attract jobs to the city.

He says Invest North Bay needs to have the flexibility of knowing that there is money there if they need it.

He says it’ll only be spent if there’s a good attractive lead to bring a business to the city.

The vote to grant Burton the request was 7-3 in favour.

Councillor George Maroosis was one of the three who said no.

He says a million dollars is a lot of money and represents 1.5 points on the tax bill.

The councillor says it is the taxpayers money.