BLACK MOUNTAIN — Mayor Carl Bartlett believes the U.S. Census Bureau has understated Black Mountain’s 2010 population, and town officials said they might challenge the count.
If Bartlett is right, the mistake could cost the town because census figures help determine sales tax distributions, road money and federal aid.
The census showed Black Mountain’s population grew by 4.5 percent from 2000-10, after increasing 38 percent from 1990 to 2000.
The 2010 population count was 7,848.“You always question it (census figures), but never have I seen it this skewed,” Bartlett said.
Black Mountain planning director Elizabeth Teague also thought the number seemed low.
She pointed to N.C. Data Center projections, which estimated the 2009 population at 8,526.
Her own projections put the town’s population at 9,132. That number is based on the 2000 census, certificates of occupancy for homes issued by the town since then and average household size.
Teague attributed the high growth rate in the 1990s to annexation, as well as natural growth but said the town had very little annexation in the 2000s.
“Even so, it’s curious it (the 2010 census figure) would be so far below what the state Data Center estimates,” she said.
Teague predicted the town would challenge the figure and said she would prepare a report for the March 14 Board of Aldermen meeting.
The Census Bureau will consider a change only if Black Mountain files a challenge and it is approved, spokeswoman Lisa Cochrane said.
Other towns have begun to inquire about the challenge process, she said, but there is no indication how many challenges might come this year.
State data are being released in waves, and many state numbers have not yet been released.
After the 2000 census, 1,180 problems were identified out of 39,000 jurisdictions, but corrections resulted in a net gain in population of only about 2,700 people.
The census figures have a big impact on the amount of money that flows into local towns, said Dave Abernathy, a geography and Geographic Information System professor at Warren Wilson College.
For that reason, many towns will scrutinize the numbers.
“The potential undercount for particular regions … has long been a concern swirling around the census,” he said. “The Census Bureau goes to great lengths to be as accurate as possible, but of course can never be completely accurate.”
Government agencies aren’t the only ones who rely on the information, he said.
The figures are used by businesses considering relocating and planners trying to anticipate growth.
Legislators also would look at the census as part of redrawing political districts.
“All these things are dictated by how many people there are and where,” Abernathy said.
10:03 AM, Mar. 10, 2011
Written by
Mark Vanderhoff
