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Census helps provide city with important funding

May 5, 2011 | 12:05 PM

As census forms are being delivered, the City of Prince Albert is reminding residents to fill out forms to accurately reflect households because it results in more appropriate funding for the city.

Currently, the city receives approximately $8 million in funding from both the province and the federal governments that is tied directly to per capita information taken from census data.

With the 2006 census data listing the population in Prince Albert as 34,138, it means the city receives approximately $230 per person, per year.

City director of finance, Joe Day, said anyone who spends most of their time in Prince Albert, even if they have another residence, should claim the city as their main residence in order to benefit from the additional funding.

“We know we have a good population that is somewhat transient and we’re just hoping that they realize that when they’re spending the bulk of their time in the city, that they report that that’s where they live so that we can benefit from that population count and have our grant revenues increase correspondingly,” he said.

According to the city, the Health Region had 40,000 registered residents in the city, yet only 34,000 said so on the census. That means the city lost out on around $1.47 million per year.

Census forms have already been mailed out to homes in Prince Albert and Statistics Canada will be collecting and compiling data in the summer months with the final results published early next year.

adesouza@panow.com