The Rose Report

The Rose Institute has more than 25 years of extensive survey experience and has conducted broad surveys examining key issues such as quality of life, public policy, and business development for numerous clients.
These clients include:

• The Southern California Association of Governments
• The Coachella Valley Annual Survey
• The San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
• The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley
• The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation
• The City of Claremont
• Various state, county, and local government agencies

The Rose Institute conducts all aspects of the survey process including background research, questionnaire design, sampling size, collection of data, analysis of results, and final conclusions regarding the data gathered.

Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey
In partnership with Kosmont Companies, our annual Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey provides an analysis of municipal tax rates in more than 400 cities nationwide. The Institute collects information regarding business license fees, utility fees, impact fees, incentives, property taxes, and sales tax rates. The overall tax climate of an individual city is determined by means of a self-designed statistical weighting process that designates the most expensive and least expensive cities for businesses. Surveys are conducted annually and often receive significant media attention in many California publications including the Los Angeles Business Journal. For more information regarding the Cost of Doing Business Survey, please visit: www.claremontmckenna.edu/rose/kosmont/CODBS. php.

Claremont Business Survey
The Rose Institute conducted an extensive business survey on behalf of the city of Claremont during the summer of 2008. The Institute surveyed business owners and managers to gauge support for a potential increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) in addition to gathering other important information regarding the vitality of the Claremont business community. The proposed increase in the TOT would be used to fund a city-wide marketing campaign to boost local businesses. Three out of four respondents said they would not support a change in the TOT and felt that it was the primary responsibility of the owner to promote their own businesses. Other survey results indicated that Claremont businesses are generally successful but most owners felt that improved visibility and reductions in city fees would best help improve their sales receipts.

Claremont Quality of Life Survey
The Claremont Quality of Life survey, completed in 2003, measured residents’ satisfaction with the city and how it was governed. The survey found that 92 percent of residents were satisfied with the town and pleased with the services that were provided. The survey measured satisfaction with the city’s aesthetics, police protection, efforts to be environmentally self-conscious, and other aspects of life in Claremont. The survey also found that residents desired increased funding for youth and senior citizen programs. The survey results allowed the city government to identify strengths in their performance while also highlighting areas of critical importance to improve city services.

Coachella Valley Surveys
The Rose Institute has conducted six extensive quality of life surveys across the Coachella Valley. The most recent survey, conducted in 2004, highlighted critical problems related to the Valley’s rapidly expanding population as well as unreliable electricity during periods of high demand. The survey also found that Valley residents strongly supported increased taxes to support neighborhood clean up projects and improvements in public transportation. The 2004 survey also highlighted the performance trends among local governments and noted the high optimism of residents for improved quality of life in the future.

City of Sierra Madre Survey
In 2004 the Rose Institute conducted a survey of public services performance on behalf of the city of Sierra Madre. Residents expressed high satisfaction with the performance of the Fire Department and that local tax revenues were spent effectively to provide quality city services. The survey also gauged support for construction of a new city library if the projected cost was 75 dollars per household for 30 years. Survey results indicated that residents tended to purchase books rather than check them out from the library while most residents were content with the services provided at the existing city library.

Other surveys include: Survey of Monrovia Residents Regarding City Hall Hours/Days of Operation (2007) Survey of Fantasy Springs Casino (2003) California State University’s Proposed Institute for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (2003) San Fernando Business Needs Survey (2002) Long Beach Library Survey (2001) Survey of the City of Duarte (2000) Hewitt-Camp Survey of Mexicans (1999) Claremont McKenna College Alumni Survey (1997).

The Rose Institute-Kosmont Cost of Doing Business Survey was recently featured in a post on New Santa Ana. The article discusses how the 2009 Kosmont Survey found that Santa Ana was the fourth most expensive city to do business in in Orange County. It argues that “some of the BEST cities in Orange County charge [...]

The Rose Institute’s Kosmont Cost of Doing Business Survey was featured in a recent article by the Los Angeles Times. In an opinion piece suggesting methods of increasing jobs in Los Angeles, writer Russel Goldsmith suggests lowering the city’s gross receipts tax. He writes:
Los Angeles is a particularly expensive place to do business, according to the [...]

A recent column at Forbes by Joel Kotkin discusses the results of the Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey. Mr. Kotkin mentions the fact that Los Angeles’s surrounding cities are mostly cheaper than it according to the survey, allowing local businesses to move to lower costs areas but stay in the region.
Of course, entrepreneurial [...]

The results of the Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey recently showed up in an article on states trying to lure California businesses in the Orange County Register. The article mentions the Kosmont Survey’s results showing many very expensive California cities.
This comes on the heels of four consecutive years of substantially more Californians moving [...]

From Joel Kotkin’s article in the LA Times:
Los Angeles could certainly use such a department. The most recent Kosmont-Rose Institute “Cost of Doing Business Survey” reported that Los Angeles remains the second-most-expensive city for businesses, behind Santa Monica, in the county and third most in the state, behind San Francisco and Santa Monica. Any hope [...]