Pick up any newspaper or turn on any talk radio station and you will hear unending complaints, mostly by Republicans, about the high cost of doing business in the great state of California. So, imagine my surprise when I clicked on OC Register reporter Jan Norman’s article that painted a brighter picture for Our Town Tustin.

Norman reported on a “Cost of Doing Business” survey by the Rose Institute , a student think tank and research center located at McKenna College in Claremont which produced the survey in conjunction with the Kosmont Companies in Los Angeles. The 2011 report surveyed 421 cities across the U.S. If you can believe it, Akron, Ohio came in as the most expensive city to do business in. And, while Beverly Hills came in second, Orange County fared pretty well.

In fact, there were only a handful of California cities on the “20 most expensive” list, with Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and San Francisco all hitting the top. On the other end, no cities in California made the least expensive list. The most expensive cities in Orange County to do business were Seal Beach, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Placentia, Cypress. Conversely, Tustin, along with Fountain Valley, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Costa Mesa were among the cheapest cities to do business (so, tell me again why they want to outsource?).

The cost of business licenses and property taxes are cited as the culprits for attaining “most expensive” status. The summary of the report also lambasted California’s (semi) demise of redevelopment agencies as another issue. Tustin is fortunate as the City Council, earlier this year, decided to waive business license and many fees relating to developing property in the Community Development Department for most types of businesses and construction. I doubt if this action was taken before the survey was completed so the City Council’s actions are just icing on the business cake.

The Rose Report has a variety of political information, reports and surveys you may be interested in. The blog can be found here.