By Tyna-Minet Ernst
When the U.S. Census Bureau released its list of ?large cities? Thursday, Provo officials heard something they haven?t in years: the city?s population declined.
Provo city officials said they were baffled with the findings and originally thought there was an error.
?We are very surprised to get this information,? said Raylene Ireland, Provo City director of community and governmental relations. ?It has been decades since there has been a decline in Provo?s population, probably dating back to the 1930s.?
The report said the city dropped below 100,000 residents, which is the number used by the Census Bureau to determine a large city. Provo officially surpassed that number in 2000. According to the report, the only cities in Utah that exceed 100,000 are Salt Lake City and West Valley City.
City officials said the findings were hard to believe, based off the city?s numbers and growth over the past few years.
?We just completely disagree with the census bureau,? Ireland said. ?We believe that, conservatively, we are between 110,000 and 115,000 and we will appeal the census numbers. We?ve done that in the past and we have prevailed, so we expect to do it again.?
While the appeal will take a couple of months, city planners anticipate continued growth. The demand for housing in Provo has not declined, another factor that seemed to conflict with the findings. Matthew Taylor, a city planner, said they have granted over 2,300 new building permits since the 2000 census and seen constant expansion.
?It would be almost impossible for me to imagine that we could have any type of a population decrease,? Taylor said.
Provo has seen recent growth at the south end of the city and west of the freeway. There is more room for growth in those areas and new developments are in the works throughout the city, Taylor said.
Gary McGinn, director of community development, said the numbers alone are not a big deal, but they are significant in determining projections for the city as well as the allotment Provo receives from state and federal taxes. McGinn said the original numbers reported for the official 2000 census were low and were raised somewhat after a petition.
?I haven?t seen the new reports or methodology that was used, but we?ve dropped nearly 6,000 people since 2000 and I?m wondering where they all went,? McGinn said.
Provo Population History
1970 ? 53,131
1980 ? 74,111
1990 ? 86,835
2000 ? 105,439
2004 ? 99,624