2010 U.S. count turns up 10% fewer people than expected from state estimates.
Statesville officials will investigate and may challenge U.S. Census figures that count significantly fewer city residents than they had expected.
According to the census, Statesville’s population is 24,532, some 10percent smaller than city officials expected based on estimates from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management.
“We tanked in this census, especially in comparison with other cities of our size, and, frankly, that just doesn’t seem right to me,” Planning Director David Currier said. “I plan to carefully analyze the census data to see what happened.”
Currier said he was especially anxious to review the block-by-block data census officials used. That information should be available to the city by the end of this month.
Under federal law, data for all states must be released by April 1, one year after census day.
Currier said state estimates for other Iredell County communities were within a few percentage points of the census counts, and that an estimate for the city would have placed Statesville’s population at about 27,320, far higher than the census claims.
City officials are very concerned over the census figure, since funding for many programs and services is based on population. The state distributes sales tax revenue, for example, based on population, as it does 75percent of road improvement spending provided by the state’s Powell Bill.
“We’ll be very anxious to hear the results of your findings,” Mayor Costi Kutteh told Currier at the city council’s March 7 meeting.
The city can challenge the census figures beginning June 1, according to Robert Bernstein of the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office in Washington, D.C.
A challenge would start with an informal exchange of information between the Census Bureau and the city. If they can’t agree, the city can request a formal appeal, including a hearing.
The city council took the following other actions at the March 7 meeting:
Approved the site plan for a new 5,000-square-foot Sherwin Williams store on U.S. 21 (Sullivan Road) just south of Interstate 40.
Granted a special use permit to the Martin Marietta Co. allowing it to begin upgrading its stone, sand and gravel manufacturing plant just north of I-40 on Quarry Road in Statesville.
Agreed that the city will take over maintenance responsibility for Crossroads Drive, a private road between Taco Bell and Bojangles’ on U.S. 21. The road has been riddled with potholes, and an investigation by city officials at the request of council member Jap Johnson revealed that a planned city takeover of the road in the 1990s never occurred, due to an “administrative oversight.”
By Dave Vieser
Special Correspondent Posted: Sunday, Mar. 13, 2011
