February 24, 2003, Monday

SECTION: Pg. 13

LENGTH: 189 words

HEADLINE: Study finds S.B. costs most

BYLINE: The Business Press/California / The Press Enterprise

BODY:

San Bernardino has the highest business costs in the Inland
Empire, according to a survey released Feb. 14.

The city's taxes on utilities and business licenses make
operating a business in San Bernardino more expensive on a
year-by-year basis than in any otherlocation in the two Inland
counties, according to the annual Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of
Doing Business Survey. The survey examines fees that 234 cities
and counties impose on businesses nationwide.

Larry Kosmont, whose Los Angeles-based real estate consulting
firm helps produce the survey, attributed the higher cost of
doing business in San Bernardino to the city's high business
licenses fees and its 8% tax on utility usage. He noted that
many other cities in the Inland region don't even have utility
taxes.

Kosmont's company and the Rose Institute of State and Local
Government at Claremont McKenna College found that overall, it's
still cheaper to do business in the Inland Empire than many
other parts of California.

"The Inland Empire has the double attraction of low taxes and
comparatively low land costs," Kosmont said.

LOAD-DATE: February 27, 2003