  We have examined ROSAT soft X-ray observations of a complete,
distance-limited sample of Seyfert and LINER galaxies. X-ray data are available
for 46 out of 60 such objects which lie within a hemisphere of radius 18 Mpc.
We have constructed radial profiles of the nuclear sources in order to
characterize their spatial extent and, in some cases, to help constrain the
amount of flux associated with a nuclear point source. PSPC data from ROSAT
have been used to explore the spectral characteristics of the objects with
sufficient numbers of detected counts. Based on the typical spectral parameters
of these sources, we have estimated the luminosities of the weaker sources in
the sample. We then explore the relationship between the soft X-ray and H alpha
luminosities of the observed objects; these quantities are correlated for
higher-luminosity AGNs. We find a weak correlation at low luminosities as well,
and have used this relationship to predict L_X for the 14 objects in our sample
that lack X-ray data. Using the results of the spatial and spectral analyses,
we have compared the X-ray properties of Seyferts and LINERs, finding no
striking differences between the two classes of objects. However, both types of
objects often exhibit significant amounts of extended emission, which could
minimize the appearance of differences in their nuclear properties. The soft
X-ray characteristics of the type 1 and type 2 active galaxies in the sample
are also discussed. We then compute the local X-ray volume emissivity of
low-luminosity Seyferts and LINERs and investigate their contribution to the
cosmic X-ray background. The 0.5-2.0 keV volume emissivity of 2.2e38
ergs/s/Mpc^3 we obtain for our sample suggests that low-luminosity AGNs produce
at least 9% of the soft X-ray background.
