BONNYVILLE - The Town of Bonnyville’s municipal census ends soon on July 31.
Census coordinator Judy Cumby encourages all Bonnyville residents to complete the quick, simple, and confidential census, which aims to increase grant opportunities for the Town and help curate services appropriate for Bonnyville's demographics.
According to the town of Bonnyville website, the Town is conducting a municipal census to ensure accurate population counts, as well as trends and growth patterns, which assists the municipality in planning for community services as well as maximizing the amount of grant funding it receives from the provincial and federal governments.
The more residents that complete the census, the greater the increase in potential grant funding the Town of Bonnyville can apply for - as most of the government grants are based on population.
Residents can expect the census to only take up a couple minutes of their time. The census asks basic household demographic questions including the number of people in the household, the type of dwelling, age and gender of residents, and length of residency.
Renee Stoyles, general manager of Corporate services for the Town of Bonnyville, reports they have a $45,000 budget to conduct the census, but won't know what the census actually costs until its completion.
The aim is to exceed the census's initial cost through the resulting grant funding increases.
“We rely on the census for our demographics – to help meet the needs of our residents,” said Stoyles.
“This is how the Town gets a feel for the people we have here - age groups, genders and such, and how they decide what services are required for those groups,” explained Cumby
Conducting their own census is much more comprehensive and accurate than other government censuses, because the Town of Bonnyville offers a substantially longer amount of time to complete the census, and they are proactive about getting residents to complete the census.
“There is no personal information to divulge. The census is confidential, and the information is not accessible to any other department. We can’t pass information over to anyone else in the Town of Bonnyville. This is specific to the census and it’s all confidential,” affirmed Cumby
According to the Town of Bonnyville, the last census was conducted in 2017, and this census aims to capture Bonnyville’s ever-growing population, including “the Town’s shadow population, which refers to the temporary residents of a municipality who are employed by an industrial or commercial establishment in the municipality and who have worked at least 120 hours for that employer in the three-month period immediately preceding Census Day.”
The census results will be available in the fall of 2024.
