Slave Lake Town fathers and their property owners might be in for some good news if early census reports are confirmed.
That according to the community’s Administrative Services co-ordinator, Tom Moore. He says that as Rotarian census takers drop off their completed packages at the Town office, the news seems to be getting better and better.
Early last week Moore said he had about 90 per cent of the census forms in hand. “And it looks like if the numbers continue to come in the way they have been (population figures) will be higher than the federal census indicated.” How much higher he couldn’t say last week, but the co-ordinator said he expected to have those figures sometime this week.
The Town contracted the Rotary club earlier this year to conduct a new census. That was after the federal census suggested that just over 100 new residents had moved to town during the past five years.
The figures were especially disheartening for Town fathers whose figures showed more than 100 new homes had been built in that time.
The Town estimates that it receives an extra $300 in grant dollars for every person that’s added to its population figures.
Moore says that “overall people were pretty receptive” when the headcounters came to their respective doors.
Rotary members Harry Bartlett and Tyler Warman spearheaded the effort for the club. Bartlett says most residents were surprised when the count required less than 30 seconds of their time. He was quick to applaud the 10 or so teams of “Rotary members and friends of Rotary who offered their time to get this job done.”
He said though the workers went back as many as three times when no one was home, they were still doing callbacks late last week. He added that people who weren’t counted in this project can still call the Town and ask for Moore to get their names added to the list. He thanked apartment building managers for their assistance with the effort.
“It’s very basic. We just want to find out how many people live in that residence. That’s all the info we need to help the Town access more grant dollars – to benefit us all.”
“Rotary is doing this as a fund-raiser, yes, but we’re also doing it for the benefit our community."

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