Cities begin preparing for 2010 census

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer
Grants could help in counting residents | Friday, December 21, 2007 9:48 AM PST ∞

Cities in Southwest County are preparing to update the lists of addresses the U.S. Census Bureau will use to distribute questionnaires in 2010, the results of which, municipal officials say, will be vitally important when they seek federal funding for roads and a wide range of other projects and services.

Murrieta officials expect $20,000 to $40,000 in state funding for its role in the update project, with Lake Elsinore and Temecula also receiving reimbursements. State and federal demographers generally agree that the official counts overlook many members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and particularly illegal immigrants who may be wary of interacting with government agencies.

Demographers point to California's disproportionately large populations of those groups as a reason why the Census Bureau estimated in 2003 that the 2000 census missed 44,000 Californians, even as it overcounted 1.3 million people nationwide.

State and local officials have often complained that the skewed numbers shortchange California when federal funds are distributed. To help rectify the perceived problem, the California Department of Finance is offering grants to cities, including up to $50,000 to Murrieta and other cities estimated to have added 10,000 to 20,000 houses since the April 2000 census.

California is taking various measures to improve counting in immigrant communities believed to have been undercounted in the last census, and including new addresses is especially important for fast-growing cities such as those in Riverside County.

The California Department of Finance estimates Murrieta to have grown by more than 60,000 residents, or 120 percent, since the last census. Temecula has grown by an estimated 52,000, or 70 percent, while Lake Elsinore has grown by 21,000, or 65 percent.

"If they don't have a good master list, you could have entire subdivisions that aren't counted," said Mary Heim, an analyst with the state agency.

Census data are used to determine federal funding for a range of local programs, including public education and child welfare. They also become a base line for the state's annual estimates of cities' and counties' populations, which are used in determining distributions of everything from vehicle license fees to gasoline taxes, said Jim Mackenzie, a senior planner in Murrieta.

Lake Elsinore's population grew by an estimated 6,400 people last year, to 47,600. If that continues, the city is poised to hit -- or may have already hit -- a 50,000 threshold that could trigger changes in how it receives and spends state and federal money, Councilman Thomas Buckley said.

Cities' efforts in updating address lists will be particularly important for people who move into new houses just a few months before Census Day, which is April 1, 2010. In January 2010, Murrieta will send the Census Bureau a final list of addresses of houses that have been approved but not yet built, Mackenzie said.

In the meantime, the federal agency is sending each city a list of addresses drawn from postal data and other sources. City employees will review those lists early next year and add the addresses of houses that were recently completed or are expected to be built in 2008 and 2009, according to the federal agency. City employees will initially use lists, but may have to go door to door in some cases to resolve contradictions, said John Degrange, Temecula's director of geographic information systems.

"We want to make sure that when 2010 rolls around ... we're as up to date with addresses as possible," Mackenzie said.

-- Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.