Langley will do own head count
June 25, 2008 · Updated 2:50 PM
Unsatisfied with the job done by the Census Bureau, the city of Langley is going to count its residents.
In 2000, the Census Bureau counted 959 people living within the city limits. That was 156 fewer than a population estimate put out by the state's Office of Financial Management the same year.
The lower total caused the city to miss out on about $5,000 of state grant money for city planning. Commenting last May about the short change, Langley Mayor Lloyd Furman said he was extremely displeased with the job done by Langley census takers.
"We were badly shortchanged by the Census Bureau," he said.
Starting later this month, city population enumerators will count Langley's residents again. Enumerators trained by the state will do the count by going door-to-door. They will record the names of every city resident and match them with a residence address.
Mayor Furman said this week in a press release that the city needs to take the new count to try to make the city eligible for certain state funds. Cities with fewer than 1,000 residents receive less funding than those over that mark.
Enumerators will have special, temporary identification while doing their work. Personal information collected in the count will be kept confidential.
If a new count survives state scrutiny, it will be accepted by the state over the federal Census.
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