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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 10/15/2009 8:30:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Population growth data been continuously updated since last census
Staff
Editor's note: This is the second story in an intermittent series we are featuring on the upcoming Federal Census and local impacts and issues related to it. The first explained the importance of "snowbirds" waiting until they return in spring and filling out their Minnesota-delivered census form, not the form they get mailed next March to a winter seasonal dwelling.
by DENISE MARTIN
The last time the U.S. Census came around in the year 2000, Chisago County was involved in assigning new addresses to a majority of parcels. The numbering system for existing and future properties was being changed to reflect an accurate grid system, which the county had somehow digressed from and needed to pull itself back in line with.
Enhanced 911 capabilities that became available in the upgrade of the system could not identify a caller's originating location without accurate addresses.
Names of streets and avenues didn't make sense alphabetically.
Based on all demographic projections, Chisago County was entering a huge population growth era and the addressing problems would only get worse; so the county oversaw a complicated and controversial re-addressing effort.
The county eventually made it out the other side and now has an accurate database in place. But re-addressing caused huge problems for residents and governments alike, and the 2000 Census was no exception.
A state demographer advising the Minnesota Census 2010 office, commented in a recent interview that the later cross-referencing comparing county assessor homestead statistics with census gathering data was way-off in Chisago County 10 years ago.
James Hibbs said many counties took part in the LUCA program since the last census, to ensure their addressing and parcel designations are correct. Chisago County is one of those.
LUCA is the Local Update of Census Addresses. Beth Johnson, in the county's GIS or geographic information systems department, has spent many hours making sure Chisago County has accurate data for the upcoming 2010 census.
"Speaking for the areas that we (the county) can do, not the cities who do their own census information," Johnson said, "I am confident the county data is up to date."
Johnson came to work for the county in 2002, and said over the years some portion of her work has involved confirming addresses and other demographic information, including a report submitted annually called the BAS, or Boundary and Annexation Survey.
Minnesota Census Program Coordinator Ryan Dolan said there were employees in the field this summer verifying addresses with handheld GPS devices and double-checking parcel addresses.
The county has also been notified by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, that computer-friendly materials are being shipped in November to counties who need to update "new construction" data. Participants have 45 days to submit addresses from receipt of the federal packets.
Hibbs added that data is only as accurate as what's put into the database, so, "...anything anybody can do to facilitate proper addressing information" would be welcome.
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