Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33511014
06/06/02
Measuring Visitor Expenses And Cost-Benefit Analysis
Source: Tourism USA - Chapter 3
Author: Weaver, Glenn
Year: 1991 - 3rd Edition
Figure 3. 1
Jackson Hole Visitor Profile Questionnaire, 1978
1. Point of origin:
__ Wyoming
__ Pacific Coast
__ Rocky Mountain Area
__ Southwest
__ Midwest
__ East Coast
__ South
__ Other U.S. ____________________
__ Foreign ______________________
2. How traveling:
__ Automobile
__ Bus
__ Recreation vehicle
__ Air
__ Other __________________
3. Destination:
__ Teton Park
__ Yellowstone Park
__ Town of Jackson
__ Targhee Resort
__ Teton Village
__ Other __________________________
4. Type of lodging while in Jackson Hole:
__ Motels/hotels
__ Private campground (e.g., KOA)
__ Public campground (e.g., Forest Service)
__ Friends and relatives
__ Other _________________________
5. Duration of total trip:
__ Day visitors
__ 1-2 days
__ 3 days or less
__ 4-7 days
__ 8-14 days
__ 15 days +
6. Number in Party:
__ Adults ______________
__ Children ____________
7. Age distribution of adults:
__ 18-30 years
__ 31-45 years
__ 46-55 years
__ 55 years +
8. How long are you staying in Jackson Hole?
Days ____
Nights ___
9.Primary reason for visit:
__ Downhill skiing
__ Cross country skiing
__ Snowmobiling
__ Hiking - camping
__ Sightseeing
__ Business
__ Dude ranch
__ Passing through
__ Other ___________________________________
10. Expenditures:
Total ___________
Restaurants _________
Lodging _____________
Bars and nightclubs _________
Recreation services _________
Gasoline __________
Souvenirs ___________
Other trade
(e.g., groceries) _________
Other _________________________
11. Approximate family income:
__ $ 8,999 or less
__ $ 9,000 to $14,999
__ $15,000 to $25,000
__ $25,000 to $50,000
__ $50,000+
__ No response
Measuring Visitor Expenditures
The benefit from tourism which people recognize most
readily is the money tourists spend in a community The
range of benefits includes such things as improved
recreation facilities, cultural and social opportunities,
and pride in community, but DOLLARS provide the major
appeal for tourism development. These DOLLARS can also
benefit sectors of the community not directly connected to
tourism, like the construction industry.
Frequently, you may need specific information on the amount
of money visitors spend in your area. These estimates can:
- Show the value of tourism to the entire area
- Show impact to a specific industry
- Be used in planning new developments of tourism
attractions or facilities
- Determine impact of tourism on the economy in terms
of receipts, employment, payroll and tax revenues
generated.
Diaries
A diary format for continual recording of spending is the
most accurate method of obtaining expenditures. Diaries
require minimum recall on the part of respondents since a
running record is kept of spending, which is advantageous
if highly detailed information is sought. However, there
are two major shortcomings:
- Having to record expenses may change the tourist's
spending habits, which biases total tourist spending
estimates.
- The response rate (getting people to participate) tends
to be low since few vacationers would welcome an
additional chore (innovative incentives might offset this
problem).
One also suspects that certain personality types are more
likely to keep diaries. others are more likely to refuse.
Their personality differences might also be reflected in
spending behavior.
Exit Interviews
A second method of gathering expenditure information is to
interview people as they leave the area. In an "exit
interview" people are asked to estimate either their total
expenditures for the entire period spent in an area or for
their last day. Since fewer people will refuse to complete
an exit interview, you can expect to find a more
representative group of respondents for this type of
interview than for diaries. However, people will tend to
forget many expenditures. Even when you ask them to
consider the entire time period spent in your area, they
will remember better the expenses from the last day than
from earlier days.
One variation of exit interviews is to interview people
"randomly" in the area in an attempt to reach people on
each day of their visit. This reduces the bias found in
concentrating on the last day, but it does not eliminate
the problem of recall.
Mail Surveys At Home
A third alternative is to send questionnaires, to a random
sample derived from various registration data, to the
visitor at his home. One such example is the Jackson Hole
Visitor Profile Questionnaire illustrated in Figure 3.1
which has questions dealing with expenditures. More
questions could be added if greater expenditure detail were
desired.
This type of questionnaire typically gets a higher response
rate than the diary, but a lower response than exit
interviews. Also, the time lapse increases the tendency to
underestimate actual expenses.
Measurement of Income Impact
There are three methods you may use to measure the impact
of tourist expenditure on local income:
- Use of regional or county income multipliers
- Construction of your own income multiplier
- Use of outside consultants
The use of outside consultants may be beyond the financial
capability of most communities; however, you should check
with local universities or colleges. There may be some
interested students or professors looking only for local
cooperation in a project of this sort.
Use of Regional or County Income Multipliers
If your program is in its beginning stages, the use of
regional or county income multipliers will provide a rough
estimate of the increase in local incomes. An income
multiplier is a factor by which sales are multiplied in
order to estimate the impact on incomes. Check with your
State Economic and Business Research Division to see if
they know of any study which estimated an income multiplier
for a region similar to yours. You should also check with
the regional office of the Corps of Engineers or the Bureau
of Reclamation. In conducting feasibility studies of water
resource projects, these agencies estimate income
multipliers. Evidence indicates that 90 to 95% of United
States county income multipliers fall within a range of 0.4
to 0.8. Thus for most areas, we expect a $100 tourist
expenditure to increase local incomes by $40 to $80.
If you are not able to find an income multiplier derived
for a region similar to yours, a "ball park" estimate may
be made by considering the following factors:
- Your estimate will in all probability fall within the
range of 0.4 to 0.8
- Your multiplier will tend to be at the upper end of the
range if:
-Your region is urban rather than rural.
-Tourists buy products which require considerable local
labor in production e.g., hotel-motel expenditures,
purchase of local arts and crafts.
Construction of Your Own Income Multiplier
If your program is past the preliminary stage and your
community already does considerable tourist business, you
may want to develop your own income multiplier. In this
case you will need to know:
- The pattern and volume of tourist expenditure in the
region
- The percentage of goods and services produced locally
- The percentage of local income that is spent locally.
Determine Pattern and Volume of Tourist Expenditures
The pattern and volume of tourist expenditures will in most
instances be the first type of data collected in evaluating
tourist impact. In 1984, out of every $100 spent by
tourists in Arizona, about $26 was spent for food and
beverages, another $26 for lodging, a little more than $23
for transportation, $7 for entertainment, and $15 for
retail; the remainder was expended for other goods and
services. The income which accrues to local residents will
depend first on the size of tourist expenditure. The more
money each tourist spends in your area and the more
tourists that visit, the greater the increase in local
incomes. Second, the amount of local income created will
depend on the pattern of expenditure by the tourist.
Estimate Percentage of Goods and Services Produced Locally
Also important is the extent to which different sectors
within the local area purchase goods and services from each
other. If the local restaurant is able to purchase food
from farmers in the region, more of the tourist expenditure
will accrue as local income. It is useful to estimate, for
sectors important in tourist trade, the percent of each
purchase that is produced locally Interviews with
knowledgeable business persons in each sector should
provide you with this information.
Your State Economic and Business Research Division should
be able to provide you with an estimate of the percentage
of local income spent locally and the percentage of local
goods and services produced locally. With these estimates,
it is not necessary to trace out each round of spending to
approximate the total local income created. Enough
information has been collected to determine your income
multiplier.
For example, when the percentage of goods and services
produced locally and the distribution of tourist
expenditures were computed in one area, it was determined
that 32% of tourist expenditures went to restaurants and
food stores. Of that expenditure, almost 59% went to local
businesses and residents as income. As might be expected,
of the establishments listed, lodging had the highest
percentage of its goods and services supplied locally and
thus the highest potential for generating local income. A
little reflection shows the logic of this. Hotels and
motels use a considerable amount of local labor in
producing their services, thereby generating considerable
local income.
Calculate Percentage of Local Income that is Spent Locally
Once the percentage of goods and services produced locally
has been estimated and the pattern of tourist expenditure
established, the amount of direct income coming into the
local area can be calculated. If $28.70 is spent for
lodging, and if 38.2% of this sum must go to buy goods and
services outside the area, only 61.8% of the $28.70 or less
than $18 is received as local income. (We have neglected
the role of taxes here which can partially flow out of the
community.)
This is, however, not the end of the matter the--recipients
of this income will spend a portion for goods and services,
some produced locally and some imported. The motel
proprietor buys groceries at the local market and gasoline
at the filling station, generating additional local income.
These second round recipients will have less of the total
to spend than the first round recipients --- those who
received income from the initial tourist purchase --- and
third round recipients will have less again.
The result of this "chain of spending" is a multiplier
process whereby the local income added directly is
multiplied to give the total income created in the
community. The difference between the total added income
and the income created in the first round is known as the
indirect impact.
The amount of income generated locally in the second, third
and subsequent rounds of spending is determined by the same
considerations as determined the direct impact --the
pattern of spending, in this case by local residents, the
proportion of income spent on local goods and services and
the percentage of these goods and services produced
locally. Figure 3.3 takes a $200 tourist expenditure into
the second round of spending. Presently, we will treat
taxes as a payment for services performed by outsiders. The
$200 in purchases created $100 income for local residents
in the first round. They, in turn, spend 55% of this, or
$55 at local shops and businesses. The other $45 goes into
savings, taxes or into other communities as a portion of
their income is spent outside their community. The
additional $55 in local sales adds more to local income.
Again, however, the addition to local incomes will be less
than the amount of the sales. If 40% of the goods and
services sold are produced locally, there will be another
$22 added to local incomes which will lead to still further
increases in local sales and incomes.
Figure 3.3
An Example of the Impact of a $200 Tourist Expenditure
on Local Incomes
First Round-Direct Impact
$100 Increase in Local Incomes
Tourist
Expenditure
equals
Local Sales ($100
(50% for purchase of
(goods and services produced outside the
(community; taxes
$200 -------(
($100--equals $100---
(50% for Increase
(local goods in local
income,
1st round
Second and Subsequent Rounds --- Indirect Impact
($45
(45% of income: savings;
(taxes; purchase made
(outside the community
(
($55 --------
(55% of income spent
(locally; Local
(expenditures equals
(local sales
($33.00
(60% for purchase of goods and services
(produced outside the
(community; taxes
(
($22.---equals-------$22.00---3rd and
(40% for local goods Increase subsequent
in local rounds
income,
2nd round
Summary
We have summarized below in a step-by-step fashion this
method of estimating the impact of tourist expenditures on
local income:
Step 1. Collect data on the volume and pattern of tourist
spending. This information will come from your travel
survey or regional use figures.
Step 2. For this sector, estimate the percentage of sales
which remain in the area. Interviews with knowledgeable
business persons in each sector will provide this estimate.
Step 3. Determine the percentage of tourist expenditure
that directly increases local incomes. This is a "weighted"
average of all sectors where the weights are the percent of
the tourist expenditure in each sector.
Step 4. Estimate the percentage of income that local people
spend in your community.
Step 5. Estimate the percentage of goods and services sold
locally that are produced locally.
Step 6. Multiply the percent estimated in Step 4 by the
percent estimated in Step 5.
Step 7. Subtract the percent calculated in Step 6 from 100%
and divide the result into 100%.
Step 8. Calculate your income multiplier by multiplying the
result obtained in Step 7 by the percent calculated in Step
3.
Step 9. Determine the increase in local income by
multiplying total tourist expenditure by your income
multiplier.
Table 3.6 shows an example of these calculations. For the
income multiplier of 0.64, local incomes increase $64 for
every $100 of tourist expenditure, or $128 for each $200 of
tourist expenditure.
One final comment on the magnitude of the effect on local
incomes is appropriate. It is not uncommon to find, in the
literature on tourism, statements to the effect that
initial expenditures by tourists are multiplied many times
over as a result of subsequent rounds of spending. Such
statements may be misleading. We are concerned not with the
volume of sales attributable to the tourist expenditure,
but the portion of that expenditure which ends up as local
income.
Table 3. 6
An Example of Calculating the Income Impact of
Tourist Expenditures
_________________________________________
Step Procedure and Calculation
_________________________________________
#1 Volume and Pattern of Tourist Spending
Total Expenditure $200 % of Total
Food 40 20%
Lodging 40 20%
Transportation 46 23%
Other 74 37%
____ ______
$200 100%
Source of Information: Travel Survey
#2 % of Tourist Expenditure by sector which remains
in area as income:
Food 40%
Lodging 60%
Transportation 40%
Other 57%
Source of Information: Interviews with knowledgeable
business persons.
#3 % of total expenditure that directly increases
local incomes. A weighted average of all sectors
with the % of tourist expenditure in each sector as
weights.
Food 20% X 40%= 8%
Lodging 20% X 60%= 12%
Transportation 23% X 40%= 9%
Other 37% X 57%= 21%
____
Total 50%
Source of Information: From calculations performed in steps
1 and 2.
#4 % of local income spent in local community
= 55%
Source of Information: From your State Economic
and Business Research Division
#5 % of local goods and services produced locally
= 40%
Source of Information: Same as above
#6 % estimated in step 4 times % estimated in Step 5
40% X 55%= 22%
Source of information: From estimates made in
Steps 4 and 5
#7 Subtract the % calculated in Step 6 from 100% and
divide the result into 100%
100% - 22%= 78%
100% divided by 78%= 1.28
Source of information: From Step 6
#8 Calculate your income multiplier. Multiply the %
calculated in Step 3 by result obtained in Step 7.
50% X 1.28 = 0.64
Source of information: From Steps 3 and 7
#9 Determine the total increase in local income.
Multiply total tourist expenditures by the income
multiplier.
$200 X 0.64 = $128
Source of information: From Steps 8 and 1.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Range of Costs and Benefits
Before developing a tourism plan or deciding whether to add
facilities which would increase tourist potential, you need
to ask the question, "Is it worth it?" The cost-benefit
technique is a way to balance costs against benefits to
show the estimated net effect of the plan. The cost-benefit
study may be very comprehensive like those prepared by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for water resource projects or
they may be of a rough-and-ready type often used by smaller
communities. It is our intent in this section to show you
how to develop a rough-and ready cost-benefit study for
your tourism actions.
Method
First, list the benefits applicable to your community.
Next, do the same with costs. A portion of benefits and
costs will be known with reasonable accuracy, some will be
"guesstimates," and others may be unmeasurable. You will
need several ingredients to estimate benefits and costs.
- Your inventory of support services gives the present
range and capacity of support facilities. If the capacity
does not meet present or future demands, expansion of those
facilities in short supply will cost money and must be
taken into account as a cost of tourist development.
Inventorying of private support service, e.g., restaurants,
hotels, motels is discussed in Assessing Support Services.
Do not forget to ask whether public services as well, will
be expanded.
- A projection of the expected number of visitors to your
area. See Estimating Demand and Usage.
- An estimate of the expenditures tourists will make in
your community. Multiply the anticipated increase in types
of tourists (day visitor, overnight or camper) by the
expenditures expected for each type, and sum. This will
allow you to estimate the increase in sales as a result of
your tourist actions. The procedures indicated in Measuring
Visitor Expenditure will give
you this figure.
- Measurement of the benefits and costs. See Measurement of
Income Impact.
Benefits most commonly associated with tourism are
increased incomes and employment for the community. Your
community may receive additional benefits as well.
- Tax revenues might increase which then may be used to
provide additional public services or tax relief to local
residents.
- Tourism may provide a means of diversifying the economic
base. This is particularly important in areas dominated by
one industry.
- Tourists also may be important for cultural or social
reasons. The Pennsylvania Dutch are a major tourist
attraction in Lancaster County. Tourism development has
aided their community's economy enabling their culture to
flourish.
As with benefits, there may be costs associated with your
development program which are unique to your area and set
of circumstances. Your judgment here is necessary in
determining which costs are important. The inventories of
public services will tell you whether your area can handle
an inflow of tourists. Any increase in the demand for
"social services," for example, hiring extra police or
improving public restrooms, will be listed as a cost of
tourist development. The costs of tourism promotion should
also be included. If time is donated, the salaries may be
calculated by multiplying the hours worked by the minimum
wage.
The costs and benefits of tourism development can be
measured with varying degrees of precision. For
unmeasurable items, we suggest entering a plus (+) for a
benefit or a minus (-) for a cost in the cost-benefit
table. Environmental costs, community resentment or
cultural benefits attributable to tourism are examples of
negative items.
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is now operating a fairly
successful tourism program under the auspices of a Tourist
Promotion Agency (TPA). It was not always so. Numerous
tales are told about "the bad old days" of tourists
invading the private homes of Amish families and demanding
to be shown around. TPA works with public and private
groups in the county and city in developing tourism and
solving problems which exist. By carefully considering
these problems at the onset, even if they are
"unmeasurable," they can be minimized.
After all benefits and costs have been estimated and
entered in the cost-benefit table, add up the costs and
subtract from total benefits. This gives net measurable
benefits. For you to proceed with your tourist development
program, net measurable benefits should be positive.
Another useful measure is the benefit-cost ratio. This is
an indication of the rate of return on the investment costs
of the program. If benefits divided by costs equal, for
example, 1.7, this implies for every $1 of costs, $1.70
will be returned to the community in benefits.
You must also consider the pluses and minuses in your
table. If the pluses outweigh the minuses, clearly you
should proceed with your plan. If, however, the minuses
outweigh the pluses, you must decide whether the net
measurable benefits offset the unmeasured costs. "Yes"
indicates that the proposed tourism project is worth it.
How do you decide whether the pluses outweigh the minuses?
There is no easy answer. On any one item, there may not
even be agreement on whether to consider it a plus or a
minus ("One man's solitude is another's loneliness.") You
will have gone a long way in making such a judgment,
however, if you have consciously listed such items and
calculated the net measured benefits of your program. In
the course of following this procedure, ideas may come up
which will accent the pluses and minimize the minuses.
Because community development and support is an essential
ingredient to the success of your program, you should
strive for a consensus in deciding whether tourism is worth
the "cost." We will illustrate the use of the cost-benefit
technique by a case study of Anytown, U.S.A. (see Table
3.7). Anytown is located in the southwest United States.
The population is 25,000 and has been stable over the last
ten years. The principal industry was and is copper mining,
but for the last five years or so, work has only been
sporadic. As a result, the business community fears that
the town will die.
The Chamber of Commerce has proposed that tourism be
developed over the next five years, from 1986 to 1990. It
has calculated a benefit cost ratio of 6.17. Thus, every $1
of cost should return $6.17 to the community. Table 3.7
shows their calculations. All figures are in thousands of
dollars per year for a five year period and on a current
year (1985) basis.* Table 3.8 shows line calculations and
source of information.
_______________________________
* The use of current year as a basis of comparison of
benefits and costs spread out over time is traditional. The
process is termed "Discounting to Present Value" and is
required since a dollar receivable sometime in the future
is not worth as much as a dollar received now. If you can
earn 7.5% on money deposited in the bank, the Present Value
of $100 receivable 1 year from now is worth, only a little
more than $93 because $93 deposited now at 7.5% will be
worth about $100 after 1 year. Your local banker will be
familiar with this process so ask for his advice.
On line 1 in Table 3.7, it is estimated that $174,000 in
additional income will accrue to local residents each year;
$110,000 of this will be wages. Income was determined by
estimating the number of additional tourists the program
will attract to the community.
The goal of the plan is to bring an additional 10,000
visitors per year, 30% of whom are expected to stay
overnight and spend an average of $50. Day visitors are $20
per visit. Thus, tourist expenditures were calculated to be
$290,000 per year. The tourist expenditures were multiplied
by 0.6 to reflect the fact that a portion of these
expenditures immediately leave the area as a return for
goods and services not provided locally. (Evidence
indicates that county income multipliers in the
southwestern United States range from 0.4 to 0.8. (See
Measurement of Income Impact.) Thus, local income per year
is estimated at 174,000.
Wages were determined by estimating the number of
additional jobs necessary to service an extra 10,000
visitors and $290,000 sales per year. By using the
inventory of support services and labor supply, it was
estimated that five additional full-time jobs would be
required at an average salary of $10,000. There also would
be an additional twelve part-time employees at an average
wage of $5,000 per year. Total wages are estimated to equal
$110,000.
Line 2 indicates that revenues from a bed tax on
hotel-motel occupants are expected to increase by $1,400
per year. This is based on a 5% tax rate and average
nightly rates of $28, with 2,500 of anticipated 3,000
overnight visitors staying in hotels and motels and an
average of 2.5 visitors per room. It was assumed that there
would be no anticipated change in property taxes.
A check of inventories determined that existing private
facilities could accommodate the additional tourists. There
would be, however, additional support services costs. They
decided to expand the parking lot adjacent to the local
park. This would alleviate parking problems on Main Street
as well as at the park. An additional part-time police
officer and patrol car and public restroom facility at the
park were thought necessary to accommodate the visitors.
Repair of heavily traveled streets was another anticipated
expense. A local contractor placed the annual costs of
expanding and maintaining the parking lot at $500. The
police officer's salary is estimated at $15,000 per year.
The annual costs of the patrol car and restroom facility
are estimated at $7,000. Information provided by the Street
Department estimated street repair at $500 per year. These
are entered on line 3.
Table 3.7 Estimated Benefits and Costs of Proposed Tourism
Development Program - Anytown, U.S.A., 1986-1990
(A) (B) (C)
Benefits Costs
per year per year
1.Local Income
wages $110,000
business profits
interest & rents 64,000
_________
Sub Total = $174,000
2. Local tax revenues
bed tax 1,400
property tax 0.0
_________
Sub Total = 1,400
3. Support Services
parking lot expansion $ 500
restrooms 4,000
patrol car 3,000
police officer 15,000
street repair 500
______
Sub Total = $23,000
4. Development of Plan $ 5,000
_______
Sub Total = $ 5,000
5.Preservation of
Mexican Heritage 500 (+) 500
________ ______
Sub Total = 500 (+) 500
6.Environmental Impact (-)
______
Sub Total = (-)
7.Congestion at Local Park (-) (-)
_______ ________
Sub Total = (-) (-)
TOTALS $175,900 $28,500
(Add sub totals under Column B and C)
Net Benefits= Benefits per year - Costs per year
= $147,400
Benefit - Cost Ratio = 175,900/28.5 = 6.17
"Unmeasurables" = Check the appropriate line:
__ Pluses outweigh the minuses
__ Too close to call
__ Minuses outweigh the pluses
Table 3.8 Calculations, Sources of Information
Tourist Development Program, Anytown, U.S.A.
______________________________________________
Item Calculations
_______________________________________________
1.Local Income
Tourist Expenditure X county income multiplier
____________________________________
$290,000 X 0.6 = $174,000
Source of Information: State Economic and Business
Research Division or your own estimation.
2. Tourist Anticipated number of visitors,
Expenditure 10,000 by type
$290,000
a. overnight; 30% or 3,000
b. day visitors; 70% or 7,000
Source of information: Section on Estimating Demand and
Usage
Anticipated expenditures by type
of visitor per visit
a. overnight; $50 per visit
b. day visitor; $20 per visit
Overnight expenditures;
3000 X $50 = $150,000
7000 X $20 = $140,000
________
Total = $290,000
Source of information: Travel Survey or average figures for
your region
3. Wages
Employment by type of worker
a. full-time; 5
b. part-time; 12 X prevailing wage rates
a. full-time; $10,000/year
b. part-time; $5,000/year
Wages:
$10,000 X 5 = $ 50,000
5,000 X 12 = $ 60,000
________
$110,000
Source of information: Inventory of support services and
labor supply
4.Business profits, Local incomes - wages
interest and rental $174,000 - 110,000=$64,000
income ----$64,000
The cost of promoting the plan, time of volunteers,
publishing brochures, and so forth is estimated at $5.000
per year and is entered on line 4.
Line 5 indicates the purchases of Mexican artifacts by
visitors would benefit not only the local Mexican craft
workers, but would also contribute to maintaining the
Mexican culture in the area. This value was undetermined,
although all agreed that it was worth more than the $500
expense incurred in publicizing the crafts. Accordingly, in
the benefit column, a $500 "+" is entered.
Some people voiced concern about the use of motorbikes and
"3-wheelers" in the surrounding desert and the disruption
of solitude for some residents. It was pointed out that
this impact was not as adverse as the odor of a copper
smelter when the wind was blowing right. In fact, one of
the main selling points of the tourist industry was thought
to be its "clean" nature. Correctly, however, the impact
was assessed to be a cost, although a minor one, and
entered on line 6 as a minus (-).*
Some residents felt they might suffer from congestion at
the local park. The park is relatively small and an influx
of visitors could cut down on the attractiveness of the
area for local use. Again, on line 7, a minus (-) is
entered.
The net measured benefits were calculated to be $147,400
per year. The minuses were felt to slightly outweigh the
pluses with congestion at the local park the overriding
factor. Those who felt strongly about this issue eventually
agreed that the net measurable benefits were sufficient to
offset this cost. It was pointed out that if congestion did
develop beyond that anticipated, funds could be made
available from the bed tax to purchase additional land for
the park.
____________________________________________
* In the course of this discussion, a suggestion was made
that if the copper mine closed for good, it might be
possible to convert the abandoned mine to a dirt bike
track. In this way, a minus would be converted into a
measurable benefit. Although the suggestion was tabled for
this plan, you can see that systematic discussion of
benefits and costs may pay off in unexpected ways.
This information is for educational purposes only. References
to commercial products or trade names does not imply
endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not
mentioned. This information becomes public property upon
publication and may be printed verbatim with credit to MSU
Extension. Reprinting cannot be used to endorse or advertise
a commercial product or company.
This file was generated from data base TD on 09/30/03.
Data base TD was last revised on 06/06/02.
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