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What is a Business Improvement Area?
A Business
Improvement Area is a geographic area in a municipality. A BIA board
of management is an organization set up to provide certain business
promotion and improvement functions within that area.
A BIA allows local
business people and property owners to join together and with the
support of the municipality, to organize, finance and carry out
physical improvement and promote economic development in their
district. The local municipality is the body that is responsible for
approving the budget of the BIA.
There are now more
than 230 BIA's in place across the province. They vary in size from
less than 60 businesses and property owners to more than 2,000.
Why
both a "Merchants Association" and a "BIA"?
St. Marys BIA supports with funds a Merchants Association. Most BIA's simply appoint a promotion committee for special events and other promotions. In St. Marys, it was felt the established Merchants Association could handle that role.
Rather than the BIA earmarking an amount for promotions, and writing a cheque for each promotion, the funds for the DMA budget are provided through the St. Marys BIA.
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Looking
west
along Queen St. E., St. Marys, Ontario
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