Census redo won't affect redistricting

Karen Bouffard
The Detroit News
April 13, 2011

Detroit News Lansing Bureau 

Lansing â€" A recount of the U.S . census numbers in Detroit could pay off for the city, but results would come too late to make a difference in how Michigan's political districts are drawn, the state's demographer told lawmakers Tuesday. 

Ken Darga spoke at the first meeting of the House Redistricting and Elections Committee, which is charged with redrawing Michigan's political maps based on 2010 censusnumbers. 

The redistricting process is expected to be contentious in Michigan, where one U.S . congressional seat will be lost due to declining population. 

Republicans will be in charge of redrawing the maps, because they control the House, Senate and Governor's Office. State Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, who was at the hearing, said his party will watch over the process closely. 

"We'll point out the defects in their maps, and (make sure they know) what a fair redistricting would look like," Brewer said. 

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has called for a recount in Detroit, where Darga said the U.S . Census Bureau missed thousands of homes in the 2000 census . 

"It's going to be certainly worthwhile to look closely at the data for Detroit to see if there are housing units that should have been in the census ," Darga told the committee. 

The federal government would have until the end of 2013 to deliver the census recount numbers. 

That's too late to affect redistricting because the maps have to be approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder by Nov. 1. 

But uncovering errors in Detroit's census numbers could add to the city's coffers, Darga said. 

"The errors we are talking about here are perhaps thousands of housing units," he said. 

"It's going to be worth doing to improve funding for the city of Detroit and for other communities where errors occurred. Each person added to the census brings roughly a thousand dollars per year of federal funding to a community." 

The 2010 census showed Detroit's population declined by 25 percent in the past decade, plummeting to 713,777 people. 

kbouffard@detnews.com 

(517) 371-3660