Caleb Warnock

Hoping to get more sales tax money from the state, Eagle Mountain is planning to challenge the next census projections, but local officials say that may be easier said than done.

The city's population as stated in the census and census projections is the basis by which the state distributes a portion of the sales tax income that all cities get, said Eagle Mountain Mayor Don Richardson.

The census projection from 2005 pegs Eagle Mountain's population at 10,343 "and we are at 19,000 or 20,000 right now and as a result we are losing out on sales tax money," he said.

In addition, UDOT uses the census figure when distributing road money, and federal grants are based in part on the same figure, he said. The city hopes to challenge the census to get more money in all those areas.

"We need to do this to get our fair share," Richardson said. "It is a very proactive thing for the city to go and do, and claim some of the funds we should be getting."

Last fiscal year alone the city issued more than 1,000 building permits, and is on track to do the same this year, having issued 770 permits already with 109 more in process, he said.

Eagle Mountain now gets $760,000 a year from the state as its share of sales tax revenue and hopes to as much as double that by challenging the census, said Ifo Pili, management analyst for Eagle Mountain. The money would be used for everything from public safety to infrastructure to water and electric projects.

"We also would like to give an accurate description of what our city is," he said. "We are not a 10,000 population city, we are really a 20,000 population city."

But accuracy, reality and the federal government may have little in common, said Shawn Eliot, transportation planner with Mountainland Association of Governments, the regional planning authority that must prepare Eagle Mountain's challenge. All told, the city may gain little by challenging the census.

Eagle Mountain has tried to challenge the census in the past, only to discover it would gain little from the effort, he said.

Since the last census projections were released, much of Eagle Mountain's staff, and mayor, have changed.

Almost every city in Utah County has challenged the census in the past three years, and almost all challenges are successful. The problem with Eagle Mountain is in the way the census counts population figures.

The 2000 Census showed Eagle Mountain's population to be 2,157 people, with 4.05 people per household. Based on that information, the census projected Eagle Mountain's 2005 population to be 10,343, which is the number the state and federal government are now using when figuring sales tax portions and grants.

The problem is that Eagle Mountain's real population may now be 20,000. But even if the census were challenged, the city would not be allowed to use current population data when the rest of the state is using 2005 data.

The census projects Eagle Mountain will have a population of 12,000 in 2006, and the census will release its updated and formal projection of that figure in a month or two, Eliot said. That figure will be used for the next round of sales tax portions and grants. Eagle Mountain could choose to challenge that number after it is released, but that would not net the city any more money for at least a year.

Another problem is that the 2000 Census said the city has a per household rate of 4.05 people, but a recent Eagle Mountain survey shows that number to be 4.5. The census does not allow its per household figure to be challenged, so even if the city challenged its overall population total by giving the census building permit information, the census would multiply the number of new homes by the inaccurate per household rate.

The census has allowed some cities to pay to have their city canvassed door-to-door again for a new census count, but because that is an expensive process and because the next census is only three years away, Eagle Mountain may find itself better off to simply wait, Eliot said.

"We will work with Eagle Mountain," he said. "Last go around when they tried to challenge the census they were too close, but we will try."

After learning of the concerns of Mountainland, Pili said the city understood the difficulty of changing its census numbers and would try to get any increase it could.

"The worst thing for us to do is to do nothing," he said.

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.t

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.