Batting for ’Burra
KORUMBURRA Business Association held its first general meeting for the year last Wednesday night.
“The Korumburra Business Association is about building a network of a support,” association president David Amor said.
“The stronger the business community is in the town, the stronger everyone is.
“That is why we encourage all Korumburra businesses, big and small, to become members.”
While annual association memberships number in the thirties, in the town as a whole there are 180 businesses.
The annual fee for a business with under five employees is $75 and $150 for a business employing more.
“This is the cost of a meal at the local pub for a couple and it brings you a whole year’s investment in the community,” Mr Amor said.
He said for this modest sum, the member gets a voice at three meetings a year plus the AGM and is informed of developments.
A key initiative foreshadowed at the meeting was the development of a website to showcase and promote all business members of the KBA, to give them an online presence.
“Given that the community is becoming more and more savvy with the internet, we have to get Korumburra businesses onto the superhighway,” he said.
“We are a town of over 4000 people and there are three housing estates which are filling month by month.”
Mr Amor said 150 families have moved to the town in the last three years and yet something in the realm of $38 million of retail money was leaked each year by people travelling out of the district to places like Dandenong, Fountain Gate, Chadstone and the like.
He asserts that the shire needs to “bat harder for Korumburra. We’re not being looked after correctly.”
He sites the old sale yards as an example.
“It has been dead and dormant for the past five years,” Mr Amor said.
“The shire needs to bite the bullet and help make something happen.”
He said local businesses are being hit with everything, including an increase in fees to mount a sandwich board on the main street and the costs associated with café street furniture.
“There has been a 15 to 20 percent hike in costs,” Mr Amor said.
“We feel like we are being kicked in the guts.”
Seeking action: Korumburra Business Association president David Amor still believes the town deserves a better deal.
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