Leroy Radanovich’s Mariposa Life

Having been in business of one form or another most of my life, and
self employed most of that time, I have a bit of understanding of the
difficulties of not only being successful but the simple fact of
survival. The most desirable jobs in Mariposa County are in
Government, County, State and Federal. The least desirable have
proven to be private, non-corporate, self funded private endeavors
that require much effort and capital to survive.
Often capital resources are diminished by the regulatory needs of
government. I can recall any number of such endeavors that have come
and gone during my life here in Mariposa County. We were the most
successful when the basis of our effort reached a combination of
clients. That would be a small local base having a modest economic
reserve, augmented by a larger economic market that brought to
Mariposa County the resources developed elsewhere. For example, the
thirty years working as a wedding photographer was successful because
98% of our clients came from outside the county and brought with them
the ability to pay for our services. In other words, the market for
our services locally was small and poorly funded.

But something changed over the years. That something was Tourism.
Tourism brought with it revenue for businesses small and large to not
only survive, but to grow. The last few years that market has become
world wide.
What brought this change? Yosemite and the desire for peoples of the
world to visit it and the environment that surrounded Yosemite. We
know this because of the tax revenue generated by the lodging
industry related to Yosemite. The standard of living in Mariposa
County for many is still quite poor for many who do not participate
in this industry. It is estimated, based on tax revenues, that the
value of the presence of Yosemite National Park in our county is in
excess of $270 million moving through the local economy. This is
based on an economic study paid for by the Park Service, by an
independent firm in 2006. The total impact of Yosemite on the four
counties surrounding the Park is in excess of $400 million but because
most of the lodging related to Yosemite is in Mariposa County, we are
the largest benefactor. Not just the more than $10 million in Bed
Tax to the County, but also the revenue generated by many businesses,
large and small, which represents the other 90%. One major problem
with this industry is that too high a percentage of the employees are
seasonable and often at the bottom of the economic ladder.
This reliance on Yosemite, and the dependence that we have
developed, is not recognized by all of our leaders. But I am sure
that the small business owners outside the Park know quite well.

We have a population under 19,000 citizens. A high percentage are
retired and their source of income is not the Park. Another
percentage are government employees of all agencies and with the
exception of county, their income is from tax revenue generated
elsewhere. This means that the value of the services that Mariposa
County enjoys provided by the state and Federal Government is greater
than the actual taxes paid by Mariposa County residents. Most
everyone else depends to one degree or another on the visitor to our
county, buying goods, seeking entertainment, renting rooms, etc. It
is not that we would not have small business here if there were no
Park providing tax base, wages, investment and return on investment.
Yes we would. But simply based on our population spread throughout
the market, the town of Mariposa might have it’s 2000 or so residents,
but there would be much less in the way of sustainable goods and
service offerings and opportunity.

I lived here and was in business when, for all intents and purposes,
Yosemite National Park was closed. I know the difference. That was
WWII. I know what happened when Hwy 140 was closed for four and one
half months during the Ferguson Slide. The county coffers did not
suffer because the Bed Tax was paid. People did not stop going to
Yosemite, they just went another way. What suffered were the small
dependent businesses along Hwy 140 that were structured to having
roughly six months of visitors. A lot of people were laid off. A
lot of goods were not sold. And there was a reduction in sales tax
revenue reflecting the local economy. By the way, the sales tax
revenue, adjusted for changing rates, has yet to recover to its
pre-rock slide level.
We are still suffering declines in housing creation, land
development and sales, non tourism related goods and services, and
anything that is not funded by a government program. Money is still
being spent on social programs funded by state or federal programs,
but that is being done from deficit creating sources, (ie.state and
federal). Eventually someone is going to have to balance the state
or federal budget and the source of that revenue is us. Already this
fiscal year the state has taken $600,000 out of our General Fund in
the form of a loan to the state that, under current conditions of a
state deficit of a so called balanced budget, is unlikely to ever be
repaid to the county.

A fairly new organization in the county, the Mariposa County
Independent Business Alliance, is sponsoring a presentation and
workshop for anyone who wishes to attend, at the United Methodist
Church Parish Hall, 4991 6th St, on Monday next, November 2, starting
at 8:00 A.M. The purpose of the meeting is to visit with Jeff Milchen,
co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance about
economic localization and community empowerment. This free and open
to the public meeting is being sponsored by a group of local
business persons and is not involved with Mariposa County Government.
None the less, I would expect that they should be interested in this
meeting as it will be directed towards solving problems, not creating
new ones.

The need for the private sector to become aggressive about economic
development is to a great deal related to the lack of progress on
sections of the new General Plan designed to further the private, non
tourist economy of Mariposa County. It is important that the public
become interested in the future of this county because we have had
many unrealized opportunities to stabilize and grow our economy. The
problem is that while county government has to be thoughtful about
developing solutions to many issues, it has failed to act in a
aggressive and positive way. I suppose some folks believe that lack
of effort on the counties part is one way to stop growth in the
county. That hasn’t proved true in the past.

Having been around this stuff for a long time, I am very aware of
the policy, spoken or unspoken, that to develop poor quality plans or
never implementing what planning has been done is one way to prevent
growth. The facts are the growth that has come over the last 40
years, that many people are unhappy about, is the result of
inadequate planning and implementation of the planning that was done.
For example, the Mariposa Airport is in trouble. A citizens
committee is trying to do something about the possibility of the
closure of the terminal building. They need only to look at the
adopted General Plan and the element that deals with economic
development to find that the creation of a Small Light Industrial
section at the Airport needs to be examined as a solution.
Mariposa Airport was created by Federal Funds during the late
Depression as an Economic Development Tool. It’s improvements over
the years were also Federally funded. Each of these developments
left Mariposa County with a liability if the plans to incorporate the
Airport in some form of economic stimulus was accomplished. Never
done. The reason that the Airport has been able to exist at all over
the years is that the County has been able to find someone to lease
the operation. Eager to be involved in an Airport brought a number
of concessionaires to Mariposa, each leaving or not renewing the
contract because it could never show a return on investment. The
best periods were when the hanger space could be used to operate a
auxiliary business, but even then it was dependent on an individual
having the skill to offer a service and a demand for that service.
When that ended, then it was no longer feasible. In the mean time
the airport survived because someone was willing to try and make it go
regardless of the cost.
In the end the County could no longer find such a person and had to
take over operations at a loss. And the budget problems of the
county and the state taking a large part of the General Fund made the
problem worse.

There are solutions for the private economy in Mariposa County but
having it controlled by government is not the answer. Perhaps a
strong element of backers of a private economy can bring a new vision
to the table, not controlled by consultants (terrible waste of money)
brought in at great expense. Some of the tools are available
already. We must be ready to use them and not in the context of a
political system which is happy to see it’s financial support grow, but
rejects and does not support a private economy not controlled by
County Government.