Town board says 2020 Census figures appear incorrect; seeks corrections to preserve grant eligibility

Town board members raised an apparent error in 2020 Census and American Community Survey (ACS) figures for the town’s number of nonfamily households and median incomes and discussed steps to correct the data before it affects grant eligibility. The board’s review compared decennial census counts, ACS estimates and the town’s water‑bill counts; a board member said the decennial census form count (164 households) was closer to the town’s records than an ACS‑derived figure (248 households) and that the listed number of nonfamily households and income distributions appeared inconsistent with local knowledge. The board member said the discrepancy may have cost the town potential awards from programs administered by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) and other state grants, and urged pursuing corrections immediately because some grant windows close in September. The member reported speaking with Greg Harris, a financial analyst at OWRB, who said OWRB treats U.S. Census data as a statutory factor in its evaluations and that a letter from the town’s state representative explaining the error would help. The member named Molly Jenkins as the town’s former local official now in the legislature and suggested asking her to sign such a letter. The board also discussed raising the issue with the U.S. representative’s office for oversight help. Board members said they had asked the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML) for guidance on what to include in a formal request to the Census Bureau. No definitive deadline for corrected figures was given; board members said correcting the record before next decennial data releases or before imminent grant deadlines would be important.