According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Manhattan Village Mayor James Doyle and his family don’t live there. They don’t even exist.
Doyle’s family is among the several thousand residents village officials believe the Census Bureau skipped in its last count in 1990 and hope to correct in January when a recount is conducted.
“They skipped whole streets. There are sections of the village that never got counted,” Doyle said. “I never received anything in the mail and was never contacted.”
Since municipalities receive federal tax dollars and subsidies based upon their populations, the village requested a recount at its own expense.
Doyle told board members at a meeting Wednesday night that census authorities had approved the recount and would schedule a meeting after the new year to discuss guidelines for the canvass.
The recount is expected to be conducted in late January following the meeting with census officials.
The village will spend about $10,500 to conduct the recount, including spending more than $2,000 to hire several workers to canvass the area, Doyle said.
“We hope to get that back and thousands more,” he said.
The Census Bureau attributed its mistakes to changes in staffing, according to Doyle.
When asked if he thought it was fair that the village should get stuck with the bill for the bureau’s mistakes, Doyle said: “It’s the federal government, what do you expect?”
