Most of the pilots wanted various indirect income and benefits to the
County to be considered when listing the benefits of the airport to the
community. One pilot felt strongly that if these "soft" benefits are
considered, various "soft" costs must also be considered.

The soft benefits include 

  - a substantial but undetermined amount of income brought into the 
    County by businesses which depend on the use of airplanes in their 
    businesses. A good number of jobs depends on the airport either
    directly or indirectly. The California Dept. of Transportation published 
    an economic impact analysis, based on data collected at 18 California
    airports, which estimates 0.99 jobs per based aircraft, yielding a 
    rough estimate of 25.74 jobs brought into the County by Little River 
    Airport.

  - aircraft and hangar owners pay property taxes on their aircraft, hangars
    and on the possessory interest they lease in public land. The County
    collects $11,115 in annual taxes on hangars and aircraft. Seventy percent 
    of this tax revenue from the airport goes to mandated programs such as 
    schools. Thirty percent, $3335, goes into the general fund.

  - the airport is of potential value in the event of emergencies such as
    earthquake which block ground transportation

  - the committee is investigating the value of medical air evacuation
    flights. According to Coast Hospital records, there were 39 total
    "transports" of patients in the 6 month period ending in April 1995.
    Of these, 5 were by helicopter from Ft. Bragg and 3 were by fixed
    wing aircraft from Little River Airport. The remainder were by ground
    transportation.

  - the committee is researching how much economic benefit the airport
    brings to the merchants, innkeepers and other businesses of the 
    community. The California Dept. of Transportation published an economic
    impact analysis, based on a study of 18 California airports, which 
    estimates $34,910 direct impact and $47,035 in induced economic impact 
    per based aircraft per year. If we use these estimates, Little River 
    airport brings $2,130,570 worth of spending into the County.

    AOPA has published multipliers to use in estimating the tax revenue
    generated by this spending:

    property taxes (real and personal) 1% ---- $21,305
    sales/use taxes .5% ---------------------- $10,652
    state income taxes .75% ------------------ $15,979
    miscellaneous taxes .75% ----------------- $15,979
    (e.g. payroll)                            --------
                                               $63,915 estimated tax revenue

    One committee member suggests that visitors arriving by automobile
    may be more cost effective than visitors by air. We don't currently
    have data to determine if this is so.

  - one committee member believes that "the principal value of a large airport
    such as Little River to most communities is airline service." There
    is no indication that airline service will be resumed in the near
    future.

The soft costs include:

  - the noise and surface (highway) traffic impact on the neighbors of 
    the airport, the precise value of which cannot be determined.

  - the airport occupies 548 acres of public land, which one committee
    member values at $10,000,000. Some committee members dispute this
    valuation, pointing out that the land is almost entirely pygmy.
    The neighbors of the airport oppose non-aviation use of airport
    lands, on a grounds that such use would increase highway traffic.

  - more indirect costs not currently billed to the airport, such as
    police and fire protection, highway maintenance, etc.

  - the airport has some potential to serve as a base for off-shore oil
    operations. There is disagreement in the committee regarding the relative
    likelihood of Little River being used vs Sonoma County or Ft. Bragg
    airports. There is agreement by the committee that use of the airport
    for oil development would be undesirable and should be discouraged by
    any legal means.