MOHAVE COUNTY – Manager Ron Foggin gloated gleefully when he informed city council members Tuesday that the City of Kingman is beating its river rivals in a friendly competition involving the 2020 Census. Foggin said Bullhead City and Lake Havasu should be envious of Kingman’s success in community participation in the population count.
“We’re beating the pants off our sister cities in the census. I’m so happy about that. I can’t begin to tell you,” said Foggin, joined in a giggle by Mayor Jen Miles in a meeting teleconferenced through Zoom and broadcast online. “Reporting-wise (sic), we’re about 72% the last report I viewed,” he said.
Some 40 miles away, Manager Toby Cotter offered a different assessment during Tuesday’s Bullhead City council meeting.
“We’re at about 53.8, 54%,” Cotter said. “Right now, approximately, the response rate in Arizona is below the national average at almost 58%.”
While some respond by phone or mail, Cotter said the online response rate is particularly low in Bullhead City, just above 30% when he said the national online response rate is above 50%.
“We do have a census problem that we’re going to have to deal with in August and September when the federal government, I believe, will be back out on the street, or at least trying to make some concerted effort to hit these homes that have not yet responded to the census,” Cotter said.
The current early census response rate in Lake Havasu City is at 58.6%, according to spokesman Anthony Kozlowski.
- Dave Hawkins
