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Kyrene Corridor residents
are responding well to a special
mid-decade census that could be worth
millions of extra dollars to Tempe and
Chandler for police and fire protection,
parks, libraries and senior centers,
roads and public transportation,
hospitals and schools.
Although only about one in 13 homes
received a census survey, the responses
will be used to calculate Maricopa
County’s population and divide an
estimated $1 billion in state-shared
revenues among communities in Maricopa
County through 2010.
The special census is in its waning
days. Maricopa Association of
Governments census coordinator Heidi
Pahl said the survey should be wrapped
up by Thanksgiving or soon after.
Households that have not responded to
mailed questionnaires are being
telephoned to prod them into
cooperating. If that fails, MAG’s census
workers plan to make personal visits to
encourage people to respond.
The six-page MAG surveys were mailed
Sept. 1 to approximately 114,000
addresses that were selected at random
throughout Maricopa County.
“The amount of
money each city or town receives is
based on its population. This is why we
need the most accurate population count
possible, and this is where you come
in,” Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn said in a
MAG press release that accompanied the
census mailings.
Chandler estimates that the new
population count could mean as much as
$4.7 million in additional revenues each
year.
“That could amount to 30,000 new books
for our libraries, one entirely equipped
water well for a growing neighborhood, a
new pumper truck for the fire
department, 10 fully-outfitted police
vehicles and nine new traffic
signals—all of those things—from just
one year of funding,” Dunn said.
Tempe expects to receive $325.23 per
year for every person counted.
Kyrene Corridor residents are responding
to the census survey at above-average
rates.
Most of Tempe south of Guadalupe Road
has a response rate well above 60
percent, which is MAG’s target response
rate. The return rate in several census
tracts south of Guadalupe Road is above
70 percent, much higher than the
citywide response rate of 51 percent.
Chandler spokesman Dave Bigos said the
response rate in the nine Chandler
census tracts west of Price Road is
running at about 59 percent, just above
the citywide average.
The MAG Regional Council voted in
December 2003 to conduct the survey to
document the region’s rapid population
growth since the 2000 census. The survey
takes a representative sample of all of
the housing units in an area, and from
that sample uses statistical methods to
estimate the population. Final numbers
are expected in June 2006.
Cities are sharing the cost of the
survey. In June, Chandler
approved a $145,000 allocation to cover
its share of the 2005 Census Survey
costs.
For more information, visit the official
Census 2005 Web site at:
www.census2005.com |
