Keys Officials Demand Census Recount
MONROE COUNTY - (CBSMiami.com) - Recent census results revealing Monroe County has had a decline in population has officials calling for a recount.
That's because 10 years ago, the county had 79,589 residents and now figures show their official population has dropped by nearly 6,500 residents.
So where did the Keys population go? Officials say, they're still here, and blame census workers for being too lax about finding them.
Administrators say energy consumption is on the rise as are new utility accounts, which increased from 28,218 in 2000 to 29,837 in 2010.
"It's hard to reconcile this," County Mayor Heather Carruthers told The Key West Citizen. "I am not 100 percent confident that the census is 100 percent accurate."
Current County Administrator Roman Gastesi said the county had four different managers during the time census workers were conducting the recount.
"We never felt comfortable that these guys got it together," Gastesi told the newspaper referring to census workers.
Census numbers affect how much money governments receive in state and federal grants and how many representative seats are awarded to state and congressional districts.
County commissioners are expected to meet April 20th to discuss alternatives.
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