More than 39 per cent of St. Albert’s 22,278 households gave the online census a chance during the last two weeks.
The online count launched on April 1, the first of two methods for collecting data about the number of residents in the city. The website took in a total of 8,750 residents, or 39.2 per cent, as of noon Friday, hours before the site closed. The city aimed for 33 per cent of citizens to use the site and census manager Travis Peter said he expected the total number of users to equal 40 per cent at the end of the day on Friday.
“We’re extremely pleased with the community response,” said city manager Bill Holtby. “It speaks to the computer savviness of the community.”
The online census website closed April 16, allowing enumerators to visit those who did not fill out the survey between April 19 and May 7. However, Holtby said the door-to-door information collection could lead to a skewed result for the city.
“The number of households that do not answer can skew the numbers,” he said. “Our census enumerators will go door-to-door and for those who don’t answer … after three times, they just write it in as two people per household.”
The online census was a first for the city, following in the footsteps of other communities that use it as a quick and easy way to gather information about the city’s population. Holtby said the data would go a long way to helping the city apply for funding in the future.
“Provincial grants are directly associated with the population of a community,” said Holtby. “I’m hopeful we’ll hit 60,000 [people] this year.”
