INDIGO Shire mayor James Trenery has paid tribute to the late Don Chambers after the council was awarded $900,000 for his hometown's economic revitalisation project.
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The federal funding contribution will be matched by community-based commitments plus $445,000 from the state government and $390,000 from council.
Improvements will be made to the historic town's main street, Lake King and sealing Hopetoun Road to provide better access to the iconic wine bottle.
Cr Chambers, who died suddenly in Rome in early October, was a major advocate for the works.
"It will be a much more usable town when this work is done," Cr Trenery said.
"Don worked on this for three years and he never stopped.
"The first week I was on council Don took me to Rutherglen and went through all these projects.
"He put more work into this one than anyone else."
The council is banking on the project delivering a "conservative" increase of 22,000 visitors per year to the town which will deliver an economic impact of $8.4 million for Rutherglen's wine, accommodation and food sectors.
This will lead to an increase of $1.52 million in wages in the town with the creation of four permanent and six casual jobs.
The other partners in the project are Rutherglen Estates, Tuileries Rutherglen, Rutherglen Recreation Reserve committee of management and the wine bottle committee of management.
