West Valley City holds off on disputing census estimate

West Valley City officials believe their city has far more residents than the 113,300 estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau for July 1, 2005.

The city's own estimates place its January 2006 population at about 124,000, said spokesman Aaron Crim. But unlike many other Utah cities disputing the accuracy of the federal population estimates, for now, West Valley City isn't planning an official challenge.

"It's just a kind of status thing," Crim said. "We're really not that interested."

One city that is challenging its census estimates stands to surpass West Valley as the state's second-largest city. Provo has submitted a challenge to the Census Bureau, claiming its population is roughly 115,000 — about 1,500 more people than the original census estimate, and enough to pass West Valley if accepted.

Crim said city officials are confident that even if West Valley is surpassed in size estimates, the official 2010 Census will reveal that in reality it remains the state's second-largest city.

Officials with the U.S. Census Bureau didn't return phone calls for comment Wednesday, but Shawn Eliot, transportation planner for the Mountainland Association of Governments, said the census has already accepted challenges that boosted the estimated populations of American Fork, Mapleton, Salem and Elk Ridge.

South Jordan and Syracuse are also in the process of challenging their 2005 census estimates.

Other cities, including West Valley, could still opt to challenge their counts. The deadline for submitting a challenge to the official 2005 estimates is Oct. 1.

The census estimates for cities released last month are produced by using the change in housing units to distribute a county's population. Counties' populations are estimated by updating the latest census with data on births, deaths and internal and international migration.

The methodology often undercounts areas with large college populations and those that are rapidly growing, said Robert Spendlove, manager of demographic and economic analysis for the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.

Provo is among several cities that also successfully challenged their estimates last year.

"Utah County cities have perpetually had problems with the estimates," he said.