The Power of Three- Special Census Numbers are in!

Yesterday we got the special census letter telling us what our new population numbers are. Just to refresh I wrote about this here when we started the process in August. Special census's are run by the United States Bureau of the Census.

This was the second census we have done in my five and half years as Mayor. First some facts about the special census and some information on the process.

• The reason so many municipalities do a special census is because MFT (Motor Fuel Tax) funds from the state of Illinois are based on population and the most recent census numbers are used.
• On the average we get between $100 and $120 per person per year from the state in MFT funds. Our recent money was based on the most recent census figures (2003 special census) of 10,100.
• The 2003 special census took us from 5,400 to 10,100, so the next fiscal year we got an additional $120 x 4,700 people or an additional $564,000 to the village starting in fiscal year 2004.
• The best part about this is we receive $564,000 more every single fiscal year until the 2010 census, which is an additional $3.38 million.

The actual new census number is 16,415 people, which is an increase of 6,315 people this will bring us, an additional $757,000 per year (assuming $120 per person). This means that the village's use of the special census has taken our MFT revenue from $650,000 to $1,970,000 in 6 years.

Some random thoughts about the numbers.

• From 2004 until today we gained 6,315 people, more then the village population in 2000. (62 percent growth in 2 years)
  
• From 2000 until 2006 we gained 10,815 people. (303% growth!)
  

Or in other words we have tripled in size.