7/3/2009
MICHAEL STRAND
After several years of slight population growth, projections from the U.S. Census Bureau call for Saline County to begin a slow slide as soon as next year.
The figures, which break population changes down to the city and township level across the state, were released earlier this week.
The next actual national head count is scheduled for 2010, and Salina is already working to ensure the most accurate count possible, said Andy Martin, executive director of the Salina Area United Way, who is leading Census efforts with the city of Salina and the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.
City leaders hope an accurate count in 2010 will find at least 50,000 people living in Salina, a threshold which would qualify the city for numerous federal grant programs.
“We are continuing to get organized and planned,” Martin said. “But it’s hard to get people to think about it when it’s still nine months away.”
The numbers indicate that Saline County’s population was 54,657 last year, and since 2000 has grown by 1.9 percent — less than half of the state’s 4.1 percent growth over that same period.


Read the rest of this story in Saturday's Salina Journal.