The Sandoval Signpost reports that the town of Bernalillo is challenging estimates that put its population above 10,000 people, fearing it may lose access to state grants and be obliged to district its municipality.
Bill Divens, who reported the story, said Bernalillo has new buildings and new residents.
"What you're dealing with here is a very ambitious small town in New Mexico," he said. "It just hasn't quite, according to the town, gotten to 10,000 yet. And 10,000 is the magic number"
Mayor Jack Torres, explained that a state small city assistance fund gives varying amounts of money, but annually in the tens of thousands of dollars, as long as the population remains under 10,000.
Plus, with 10,000 residents, rather than having its councilors and mayor represent the whole town, they have to come from different districts. Torres' friend, the former mayor of Corrales, told him it can be hard to find someone to run in each district.
So the mayor was concerned when he got a letter from the Mid-Region Council of Governments saying his dues were going up because his town's population was over 10,000.
"It just didn't make sense to me," he said. "So we started doing some investigations."
After inquiries, it was found the U.S. Census Bureau, which makes the estimates, had been writing to the wrong people for information. The town has now begun the process of challenging the Bureau and hanging onto its small-town status awhile longer.
Mayor Torres acknowledges it won't be forever. He says growth has changed Bernalillo for the better since he grew up here in the 60s.
"I remember feeling really stifled and that it was the same families lived here over and over," he said. "A little bit of growth, I think, is fine and good."
Just not too much, too fast.
