“Every person is important.”
Marty Scrogham, Former Mayor of Indianola, Illinois
The results of the 2010 Census are in. Small towns watch these numbers closely because it takes only a few residents to bump their numbers up or down. And because part of each town’s funding is derived from Census numbers, that bump can be a budget boom or bust. Here’s a quick accounting of a few small towns in the news:
· According to the Census, Indianola, Illinois saw a 33.33 percent jump in population: from 207 in 2000 to 276 today. The count is accurate, says Village President Donnie Turner, but statistic is wrong: there aren’t any new residents at all. It’s just that when the Census was done in 2000, a whole lot of people were missed. After suffering the budget effects of the miscount at that time, a dedicated group of community volunteers made sure it didn’t happen again.
· Culloden, Georgia saw its population drop: from 223 in 2000 to 175 today. But town leaders have a plan to get those numbers back up—simply push out the boundaries of the town. It would add 50-75 people and a much needed boost to the budget. The plan is in the preliminary stage—finding out if the neighboring landowners want to become Cullodenians. Cullodeners?
· Clayton, Alabama locked in a big population jump: from 1,475 in 2000 to 3,008 today. And it’s all thanks to one neighbor. In 2009, the town redrew its boundaries to include the nearby Ventress Correctional Facility and its 1,600 inmates. Not only do the numbers look good on paper, but the move adds up to cold, hard cash. Clayton sits in a part of Alabama where revenue from an oil lease is divvied up among towns based on population. Pretty slick.
· Connell, Washington is home to the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, but unlike Clayton, Alabama, it’s doing its darndest not to include the inmates in its Census count. Connell, with its 2,700 residents, and Coyote Ridge, with its 2,371 inmates, tally up to 5,071 people. This is a problem. In the state of Washington, towns over 5,000 are no longer considered small and must compete with big cities, like Seattle, for state grants. The legislature has stepped in to help and with the governor’s approval, Connell will get to keep its small town title.
· Little Plato, Missouri (population 109) has a big title. After the latest Census figures, it has been proclaimed the official center of the United States population (total: 308,745,538). Census officials say the U.S. population has been steadily moving southwest, but this has been the most extreme shift to the south: 23.4 miles to be exact. Plato will receive a plaque to display proudly, at least until the next Census in 2020.
